Delhi Police begins trial of 112, still getting blank calls

New Delhi: After a six-month gap, the Delhi Police has restarted the trial run of its ambitious helpline 112, India's equivalent to the American 911 all-in-one emergency service, but after separating it from the police helpline number 100.

The Delhi Police has tied up with telecom service providers to separate 112 from 100 for the trial run. However, it is still grappling with blank calls on the 112 helpline number, a senior police official said.

Last time, the trial run for 112, which began in October, had to be stopped in December after the police control room (PCR) unit started to get almost seven times more the number of blank calls that it used to receive earlier.

"On Friday, a total of 36,585 calls had been received at 112," the officer said, adding that the process of tying up with all the telecom service providers was started on July 24 and will be completed by August 10.

"The 112 helpline is being operated separately from the 100 number so that we can determine the number of blank calls and the reasons for the calls. We will be writing to the Department of Telecommunications to address the issue after August 10," he said.

The officer further added that they do not want to jeopardise the functioning of 100 which is why the trial run for 112 was being carried out separately.

The trial run for 112 had to be halted in December after the number of blank calls received on it and 100 went up to a staggering 72,000 calls per day.

An analysis of blank calls received during the second phase of the trial run of 112 revealed that many people dialled the number by mistake, he said.

"The digits 1 and 2 are adjacent to each other on the keypad and most of the persons who call on 112 claimed that they pressed the digits in a hurry," said the officer.