Digital India: MHA notifies bids for nationwide emergency helpline, keen on number 112

NEW DELHI: In an attempt to promote Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India plan, the home ministry has modified the specifications of the bids invited for the nationwide single emergency response system under ‘Nirbhaya' scheme.

The ministry now wants the information technology service providers to use cloud services and "have experience in large-scale cloud solution deployment", officials said.

The service providers will also be required to have an annual turnover of at least Rs 1,000 crore, implement the project within 18 months from the grant of the contract and operate the nationwide system over the next five years.


It is envisaged that on the lines of the 911 emergency helpline in the US, India will have 112 as the number for seeking any emergency services including police, fire and ambulance, officials said. The emergency system will also be integrated with the road transport ministry, a process that involves setting up an emergency button on buses.

The government is keen to use 112 as the emergency number since it is the only three-digit number which can be dialled from a mobile phone even if the handset is locked, officials said.

The amendment to the bid requirements, which has been brought at the instance of the ministry of information technology, will also require the bidders to ensure security of the cloud data centre sites and operations centres.

The ambitious project has to be implemented by 2017, with the primary focus on identifying and locating a person in distress who is trying to connect through voice or data with the system. The plan was mooted in the aftermath of the December 16, 2012 gangrape of a student in Delhi. The aim of the project was to integrate emergency call numbers like those for police (100), fire (102) and ambulance (103) into one to not only act as "receivers" of emergency calls but also as "responders" in a very quick time.

Under the scheme, a centralised operations centre will be set up in Delhi, with call centres in the state capitals which will receive distress messages from mobile phones, landlines, SMS, email, online chats, panic buttons in public transport, VoIP, mobile applications or Internet of Things. "Not only women but anyone in distress will be able to connect through voice or data and help will reach them within minutes," said a senior official.