<p>After scrapping the tender for setting up an emergency distress call system a month ago, the Union Home Ministry has relaunched its efforts to put in place such a mechanism.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The ministry has invited potential bidders for a “workshop” on February 17 here to “understand industry challenges in bid participation” before publishing a new tender on setting up the ambitious National Emergency Response System under the Nirbhaya scheme.<br /><br />The ministry had planned to set up an emergency number 112 by 2017 under the Nirbhaya Fund, named in the memory of the December 16 gangrape-murder victim of Delhi. <br /><br />The system was aimed at meeting the current challenges being faced by police in the absence of an immediate emergency response system, specifically inclined towards women issues.<br /><br />The decision to have a common national emergency number came after the December 16, 2012 incident and Justice J S Verma Committee recommending such a measure.<br /><br />Though a ‘Request for Proposal’ from interested parties was invited in June last year and bidding process was in progress, the ministry cancelled the process in mid-January after finding that the terms and conditions mentioned in the bid papers were difficult to meet. <br /><br /> Before cancelling the bids, the ministry had cleared two companies after technical evaluations for further processes.<br /><br />During the process, the ministry had held several meetings with states on how to implement the scheme and even send out detailed guidelines.<br /><br />An official analysis had then shown that the ministry expects that the system would receive around five lakh calls per day in the first year of operation.<br /><br />Emergency services<br />At present, the country has three emergency services 100 (Police), 102 (Fire) and 103 (Ambulance), which was designed at the time of a regulated telecom sector with only one telecom provider across India. A number of cities have also provided additional numbers for specific emergencies and this led to “confusion” in the public about emergency contact number.<br />However, the situation has changed and to avoid confusion, officials point out the need for having a single emergency call number. <br />DH News Service<br /></p>
<p>After scrapping the tender for setting up an emergency distress call system a month ago, the Union Home Ministry has relaunched its efforts to put in place such a mechanism.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The ministry has invited potential bidders for a “workshop” on February 17 here to “understand industry challenges in bid participation” before publishing a new tender on setting up the ambitious National Emergency Response System under the Nirbhaya scheme.<br /><br />The ministry had planned to set up an emergency number 112 by 2017 under the Nirbhaya Fund, named in the memory of the December 16 gangrape-murder victim of Delhi. <br /><br />The system was aimed at meeting the current challenges being faced by police in the absence of an immediate emergency response system, specifically inclined towards women issues.<br /><br />The decision to have a common national emergency number came after the December 16, 2012 incident and Justice J S Verma Committee recommending such a measure.<br /><br />Though a ‘Request for Proposal’ from interested parties was invited in June last year and bidding process was in progress, the ministry cancelled the process in mid-January after finding that the terms and conditions mentioned in the bid papers were difficult to meet. <br /><br /> Before cancelling the bids, the ministry had cleared two companies after technical evaluations for further processes.<br /><br />During the process, the ministry had held several meetings with states on how to implement the scheme and even send out detailed guidelines.<br /><br />An official analysis had then shown that the ministry expects that the system would receive around five lakh calls per day in the first year of operation.<br /><br />Emergency services<br />At present, the country has three emergency services 100 (Police), 102 (Fire) and 103 (Ambulance), which was designed at the time of a regulated telecom sector with only one telecom provider across India. A number of cities have also provided additional numbers for specific emergencies and this led to “confusion” in the public about emergency contact number.<br />However, the situation has changed and to avoid confusion, officials point out the need for having a single emergency call number. <br />DH News Service<br /></p>
