First State to Launch Single Emergency Number 112 - ERSS By Himachal

Himachal Pradesh on November 28, 2018 became the first Indian state to launch a single emergency number ‘112’ which will connect to police, fire, health and other helplines through an Emergency Response Centre (ERC) in the state.

The emergency number was launched by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh under the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS).

Creation of Emergency Response Centre (ERC)

For this purpose, state established an ERC in Shimla along with 12 District Command Centres (DCCs) covering the entire state. The ERC has been integrated with police (100), fire (101), health (108) and women helpline (1090) services to provide emergency services via single emergency number 112.

'112 India' mobile app and ERSS state website

• This single emergency number ‘112’ service is part of the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) which includes a '112 India' mobile app integrated with panic button of smartphones.

• To ensure safety of women, a 'SHOUT' feature has been introduced in '112 India' mobile app to seek immediate assistance from registered volunteers in the vicinity apart from assistance from ERC. The SHOUT feature is exclusively available for women.

• The mobile app can be downloaded from the Google App store and Apple.

• The '112 India' mobile app will now subsequently be rolled out in all States and Union Territories to help people across the country access the unified emergency services.


• An ERSS state website has also been designed for ease of citizen in availing immediate assistance.

• Anybody in distress, especially women, can call 112 from landline or mobile phone or by using the ERSS. The ERSS would help in optimum utilsation of manpower and prompt action on all the emergency calls. In addition to this, problems related to coordination would also be simplified

• To increase the effectiveness of emergency response, the ERC has been integrated with location-based services provided by telecom service providers.

Financial Assistance

For the project, the Union Government provided financial assistance of Rs 4.71 crore for the project from the Nirbhaya fund. The Central government has allocated Rs 321.69 crore under Nirbhaya fund to implement the ERSS project across the country.

Emergency Response Support System (ERSS)

The Justice Verma Committee, in the backdrop of unfortunate Nirbhaya incident in December 2012, suggested for the implementation of the ‘Emergency Response Support System’ (ERSS) across India. This recommendation was accepted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Earlier referred as Nationwide Emergency Response System (NERS), the ERSS was approved with budgetary provision of Rs 321.69 crore with a view to introduce a Pan-India Single Emergency Response Number ‘112’ to address all kinds of distress calls such as police, fire and ambulance etc. Objectives Providing a single emergency response number across the country Providing 24x7 efficient and effective response system which can receive input from various voice and data services such as voice call, SMS, email, Internet of Things, panic buttons in public transport etc. Identification of location of person in distress connecting through voice or data Automated response system for timely dispatch of field resources such as police to the location of incidence using the system GPS (Global Positioning System) enabled dispatch of vehicles to locate nearest vehicles Integration with existing Dial 100, Dial 108 and other emergency response systems Integrate with other relevant systems like CCTNS etc. Provide standardised and easy to use mobile apps, IoT (Internet of Things) enabled applications on a Pan-India basis.