Scrap 121 as customer care number: Police asks DoT

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police have written to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to discontinue the customer helpline number 121, as it was "creating confusion" and leading to a "spike in the number of blank calls" received by the police's emergency number 112.

A senior police official stated that while dialling the customer care number 121, many callers accidentally dial the police's 112.

In order to ensure effective implementation of the emergency response number 112, Delhi Police has requested the DoT to use a new number instead of 121 as the helpline number for all service providers.

Police have been working on the 112 National Emergency Response System project for some time now.

The number is touted to be India's equivalent to the United States' all-in-one emergency services number 911.

Police sources claimed that 112 might become active from next year, as the trial runs are in progress. "We are working very hard so that it active quickly," said a police official.

Police sources claimed that the 112 number received more than 30,000 calls in the last 24 hours. Of these, however, only some calls were in the actionable category, i.e. when a PCR van is sent out to mitigate the trouble.

The official said a letter was written to the DoT to "remove 121" as the helpline of service providers to reduce the number of blank calls on the number.

In December last, the trial run for 112 had to be halted since the number of blank calls received on it as well as on 100 reached a staggering 72,000 calls. After a six-month gap, the police began trials and started the process of tying up with different telecom service providers for operating 112, said the official.

During this process, it was found that several calls made to 112 had been done by mistake.

"Many callers claimed that they were dialing 121, which is the customer helpline number for many networks, and ended up dialing 112 by mistake. We have written to the DoT. A reply is awaited," the officer added.