Bhubaneswar, Mar 19: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today launched Dial 112, an Emergency Response Support System through video conference.

Dedicating the system, the Chief Minister said that from now on, people will dial only a single number 112 for all their emergency needs related to police, fire service, health, disaster and any other emergency in times of distress.

Thanking the Odisha Police for this initiative, the Chief Minister said that this single-number service will be very beneficial for all, especially women and elderly persons. He urged them to work for the safety, dignity and welfare of all by providing faster, prompter and immediate response during emergency and distress.

The Chief Minister also inaugurated the state-of-the-art State Emergency Response Centre   and flagged off the Emergency Response Vehicles fitted with Mobile Data Terminals. The Government of Odisha has allocated Rs 157.12 crore and 2500 posts for this project.

With the introduction of this new response system, the existing emergency numbers like Police 100, Fire 101, and Ambulance 108-102 will be integrated into the unified toll free number 112 in a phased manner.

Expressing happiness over the new system, the Chief Minister said that it will provide a round-the-clock service with a facility of receiving inputs from various voice and data services such as voice calls, SMS, emails, panic-SOS requests and even web requests through a specially created 112 India App.

The Chief Minister said that the Emergency Response Centre has been digitally connected to 34 District Coordination Centres at district level and suitably located Emergency Response Vehicles. The Chief Minister appealed the people to download 112 India Mobile App and register themselves as 112 Volunteers to help others in their locality during any distress.