Bhubaneswar, March 3: Days of dialling different numbers to avail of various emergency services are set to end with the introduction of a single number for citizens.

The city administration plans to integrate emergency services - including police, fire and ambulance - into a single toll-free number, 112, for public convenience.

According to the plan, a 24x7 control room will also be set up to address the queries and complaints of citizens. The Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited, the state capital's special purpose vehicle for the ambitious programme, will execute the project in association with other government agencies, including the police.

"We already had a meeting with officials of various government agencies, including the police, and decided to introduce a unified emergency number, which will be integrated with a call centre. We will manage the call centre in a way that ensures seamless integration of all emergency services," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

At present, there are different numbers for different emergency services - 100 for police, 101 for fire and 108 or 103 for ambulance. Besides, there are localised numbers for similar services. The officials have decided to consider the best practices of other cities in India and abroad prior to the introduction of the number.

"There will be a city command centre under the smart city project. Officials will provide an array of services from this command centre. The current plan to introduce the toll-free number for emergency services will be integrated with the command centre from where the operators will assists the service seekers," said a BSCL official.

Among Bhubaneswar's smart city proposal is an intelligent city operations and management centre to look after and handle services such as traffic, parking, bus operations, common payment card, emergency response and city incidence management. This centre would have operators to look after different services.

"The operators will take the calls and assist service seekers by connecting them to the respective service providers. The number will remove confusion, while the centre would ensure timely services," the official added.

"The plan for a unified toll-free number for essential services is good. It sounds similar to the 911 service of the United States. It will remove confusion and ensure timely delivery of services. I hope that the project is not confined on paper and becomes a reality as soon as possible," said Bidwan Mohanty, a corporate employee here.

In a related development, chief minister Naveen Patnaik today held a high-level meeting with top officials of the state government to discuss the implementation status of smart city projects in Bhubaneswar. During the meeting, Naveen directed the departments concerned to co-ordinate the implementation of the projects and complete the proposed master integrator system by 2018.