KOLKATA: West Bengal has replaced the existing emergency helpline number 100 with 112 under the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS), Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced on Saturday.
Launching the service at Brigade Parade Grounds in Kolkata, Adhikari said the state would deploy 900 vehicles, including 450 cars and 450 motorcycles, to improve emergency response times. Each of the state’s 450 police stations will receive one car and one motorcycle under the scheme.
The ERSS-112 service, implemented across states and Union Territories except West Bengal, aims to improve access to emergency assistance. Adhikari said every police station would receive three additional cars and motorcycles over the next year. Each station would also have a 20-member emergency response team, including five women police personnel.
The Chief Minister said the state police’s average emergency response time was around 90 minutes and noted that Kolkata Police responded within 10 to 15 minutes because it had more personnel and vehicles.
“Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat respond to emergencies within six to 10 minutes. Why can’t Bengal achieve this,” he asked police officials, urging them to respond faster. He also said the state Cabinet had approved the recruitment of 1,500 drivers for vehicles planned for police stations.
Adhikari criticised the poor infrastructure at several police stations, citing his visits to Watgunge and Ekbalpore police stations in Kolkata. He said the buildings appeared to be nearly a century old and lacked adequate CCTV systems and fire extinguishers.
“All of this has to change,” he said. Alleging that the previous Trinamool Congress government had failed to develop police infrastructure, he said, “A section of police officers had had hardly any space to work. And that is why, I used to demand inquiries by the ED, CBI and NIA during the previous regime.”
He praised senior officers, including Director General of Police Siddhinath Gupta and IPS officer Javed Shamim, for ensuring that the recent bypolls to two Assembly seats passed without bloodshed. He also called for better coordination among the police, civil defence and disaster management authorities to improve emergency response.
On recruitment, Adhikari said his government had made the process transparent and announced that more than 11,000 constables would be appointed before Durga Puja.
He reiterated his government’s zero-tolerance stance on drug abuse and attacks on women and reaffirmed its commitment to securing justice for the family of the doctor raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
