Cellphones say emergency ‘number does not exist’

While a new mobile-based app “Himmat” for women’s safety was launched last Thursday in New Delhi, here in Srinagar even the most popularized go-to emergency police number ‘100’ seems of little help.
Arshid Ahmad, a local resident, found it difficult to call for fire services from his Airtel prepaid number when a local masjid near Nowpora Bridge here caught fire. “I tried to call 100 and 101 from my phone but got a reply that the number does not exist,” he said. “Using code 0194 before the three digits didn’t help me either,” he said.
“Then I called from a landline number and it connected,” he added.
Presently, India has various numbers for different emergencies like 100 for police, 101 for fire, 102 for ambulance and 108 for emergency disaster management.
As per National Numbering Plan of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), “these (emergency numbers) are the mandatory services that are to be provided by all Telecom Service Providers (TSPs).” But the ground reality in J&K is that most of the times callers find these numbers useless when they call from a cellphone.
“Usually calls get connected through landline and BSNL numbers only and many a time technical snags are from the telecom service providers’ side,” says an Inspector on the other side of ‘101’. But in Jammu and Kashmir, like other parts of India, the number of cellphone users is more than that of the landline users and thus it shrinks the ability of citizens to access emergency care.
“Do they want me to find an STD booth when I see a crime taking place? It is useless to call them unless a calling booth is nearby,” says a teenager, Aqib Makhdoomi, who recently saw a few hooligans teasing a girl outside a tuition centre at Parraypora here and was unable to call the police.
“Many people have saved the numbers of the concerned police stations which they use when required and many others rush to the nearby police stations or fire stations themselves. In emergencies, crucial time lost may even claim lives of people,” he adds.
There have been consultations in the past by TRAI to improve the current response system. For instance, “Universal Single Number Based Integrated Emergency Communication and Response System (IECRS)” consultation paper was released in 2013 to seek comments from people whether to make 100 or 108 as the sole emergency number. But the situation has not changed. There is need to update the system and till the time it is done at least existing numbers need to work properly.
When contacted, telecom service providers including Airtel and Reliance customer care assured to look into the “important” issue and “solve it as soon as possible.”