Hyderabad: In a major overhaul of Telangana’s emergency response network, the state on Wednesday operationalised ‘Dial 112’ as a single-point emergency helpline, bringing police, ambulance, fire, women and child safety, disaster response and other emergency services under one unified platform while bringing Dial 100 into the new system.Modelled on the 911 emergency system in the United States, Dial 112 integrates multiple emergency services through a single national helpline number, enabling citizens to access help without having to contact separate agencies.Director general of police CV Anand formally launched the Dial 112 emergency response support system (ERSS) at the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC), describing it as a technology-driven platform designed to cut response time and deliver faster assistance to citizens in distress.“This helps in providing citizens with one unified gateway for emergency assistance,“ senior police officials said. The launch also marks the end of a long-standing arrangement under which GVK-EMRI operated ambulance services as well as the police Dial 100 system.After 13 years, the state govt terminated the agreement for operating Dial 100 and shifted the facility to the ICCC under the Dial 112 umbrella. Officials said the move is expected to save the govt ₹4 crore every month while giving police greater operational control over emergency response services.TGiCCC director VB Kamalasan Reddy said Dial 112 was conceived as part of a govt of India initiative following the recommendations of the Justice J S Verma Committee, constituted after the 2012 Nirbhaya incident in Delhi. “A committee was formed under Justice Verma, who recommended a system on the lines of 911,“ Kamalasan Reddy said.Though the system has been functioning informally for nearly two years, it has now been formally launched after integrating multiple emergency wings beyond policing.One of its biggest advantages, officials said, is its advanced location-tracking capability. “One of the key advantage of this facility is the providing of advanced facility to have 95% accuracy in tracking the distress callers’ location,“ Kamalasan Reddy said.DGP Anand said artificial intelligence and advanced automation have significantly improved operational efficiency. “The overall call centre processing time has been reduced from 190 seconds to 133 seconds, representing an improvement of nearly 30%. Every second saved during the processing and dispatch stages could prove critical in protecting life, preventing escalation and ensuring timely assistance to persons in distress,“ Anand explained.Officials said nearly 14 lakh calls reach the interactive voice response (IVR) system every day. Of these, around 18,000 emergency calls are handled by call takers, while nearly 7,500 incidents are transmitted to field units for action.“By using advanced technology, advance call filtering system enables filtering of unintended calls, child calls, blank, spam and silent calls, thereby decreased the unwanted call load on the call takers and improves the efficiency of emergency response,“ officials said.To ensure quicker ground response, 1,860 patrol vehicles, including 788 four-wheelers and 1,072 two-wheelers, have been digitally integrated with the platform across Telangana.BOXDrones to be first respondersHyderabad: DGP Anand said Telangana police would increasingly deploy drones as first responders in emergency situations. The drones will be used in fire accidents, law and order situations, traffic management, bandobust duties and other emergencies. Currently, the drones available with the police can cover a radius of about 5 km, enabling officials at the ICCC to assess situations in real time and make quicker operational decisions.Graphics-Intelligent filtering of duplicate and non-emergency calls;AI-based prioritisation of incidents according to their severity and urgency;Smart call routing to the appropriate emergency service;AI-assisted dispatch of field resources;Voice-to-Text transcription of emergency conversations;Advanced caller-location identification through Location-Based Services, AdvancedLocation Services and Google Maps;Real-time operational dashboards and performance analytics;A unified single-window interface for call takers and dispatchers; andIntegration with drones and other emerging emergency-response technologies.
