Emergency Response Support System

The Ministry of Home Affairs , Govt of India have introduced a new project namely Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) under the project &lsquo National Emergency Response System&rsquo (NERS to establish a single emergency number 112 all over the country, integrating all existing emergency numbers. ERSS is designed to address distress signals from citizen in the form of voice call, sms, email and panic- SOS requests, web requests etc. to 112 and to provide assistance within the minimum time requirement. MHA intends to integrate the existing emergency numbers like 100 (police), 101 (Fire & Rescue Service), 108 (Ambulance Services) etc to the new emergency number 112.

At present in the state, Police is the only agency integrated with the new project. Consequent to this, Administrative sanction to implement the project through M/s C-DAC Authorities, Thiruvananthapuram was accorded by Government of Kerala vide the order GO(Rt) No.2673/Home dated 12/10/17. As per the GO(Rt) No. 3113/2017/Home dated 23/11/17, Police department have designated M/s CDAC , Tvpm as the implementing agency of the ERSS scheme.

The new system is running all over the State now. Its State wide Control Room known as State Emergency Response Centre is functioning at Police Head Quarters, Thiruvananthapuram. The District Coordination Centres are set up in stipulated locations, especially in the Control Rooms. This project will become an extremely important platform, with the integration of other departments like Fire & Rescue Services, Ambulance Services, Disaster Management etc. and its usage will become widespread.

The work structure of the Centre has been designed with facilities to receive calls from the public all over the State and to provide them emergency support. With this consideration, the Centre has been provided with 3 layers of work strength, such as Case record Management (CRM), Computer Aided Dispatchers (CAD) and Command Centre Supervisor (CCS) with definite duties to perform. The system is digitally equipped so that any request for help from the public is attended and processed with minimal time requirement and maximum efficiency. Apart from the State wide Control Room, each District has its own Co ordination Centres to receive the message from the State Control Room. The DCCs deliver the message to the police vehicle nearest to the point of emergency. Since the time of delivery of a message to the DCC and till its completion, the entire activities can be monitored by the State Control Room. They will provide support for delivering prompt and effective service to the caller or the victim, till the distress is promptly attended to.