Lucknow, Nov 1 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh government will spend Rs 597 crore in three years for the advancement and improvement of the state-level Emergency Response System (ERSS) UP 112.

The state cabinet has approved the plan to upgrade UP 112.

Since the Yogi Adityanath government came to power in 2017, there have been significant improvements in this system, claimed a state government spokesman. Currently, UP 112 boasts of an impressive average response time of around 11 minutes which includes both rural and urban areas. The new technology being used in it will enable a person to be able to locate the UP 112 vehicle up to 50 meters. Its manpower has also been increased to 875. As a result, 40,000 calls are now being attended at the same time in a single day, he added.

The spokesman said that the response time of UP 112 to reach the spots of crime and help those in distress has given an overall new dimension to policing in the current time.

"The UP 112 also improved its time of reaching during distress from 11 minutes to 8 minutes and 20 seconds in in urban areas. In rural areas, it has improved from 15 minutes to 10 minutes," he said.

Initially when the system started in 2015, its response time was around 60 minutes. Meanwhile, the cabinet has also approved Rs 228. 31 crore for establishment of a new prison in Kushinagar. It will have a capacity for 1,026 prisoners. Until now the prisoners of Kushinagar district had to be lodged in Deoria prison.