Steps taken to improve services of national emergency helpline

The government has taken various measures including installing Internet of Things (IoT) and bringing total area of the country under a Geographic Information System (GIS) software to make the National Emergency Service-999 more effective, and spread the service all over the country.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday told this in parliament in reply to a query from Jatiya Party MP Fakhrul Imam.

About upcoming features to make the 999 service more effective, the minister in a scripted answer said under the supervision of Bangladesh Police, the total map of the country will be brought under a modern Geographic Information System (GIS) software.

“Through this, it would be possible to identify emergency service-providing site quickly and accurately,” he said.

Besides, the home minister said, the entire policing system will be modernised, as a special feature of crime map will be included in this GIS.

Through the system, police will be able to take preparations to eliminate crimes in line with trends and types of crime in any area, he added.

Asaduzzaman also said it would be possible to provide service quickly through identifying location of the person in danger, and location of response teams, when all vehicles of police and fire service comes under the GIS.

About IoT technology, the home minister said this technology will inform any emergency situation or accident to the National Emergency Service-999 automatically, without human assistance.

The minister also said government and private buildings, vehicles, industries and factories and banks will come under the coverage of National Emergency Service-999 through IoT, which will increase capability of providing emergency services very quickly.

The minister said the government has undertaken plans to install body camera on police members and special camera with their spectacles, in a bid to quickly and accurately monitor any emergency situation.

Through this system, the service centre of the national emergency service 999 will be able to observe, collect and preserve video of the place of occurrence directly.

“Besides, it would be possible to observe any emergency situation and to tackle it within short time through installing camera with artificial intelligence at different important points of the country,” he also said.

Moreover, the government has also planned to set up a 100-seat Disaster Recovery Centre if the present service centre has to halt operations for any reason, the minister told the House.