Mahakumbh Nagar, Jan 19: A sprawling temporary city spread over 10,000 acres, more than a crore pilgrims and seers living at a time and about 20 lakh visitors daily — the Integrated Control Command Centre here is keeping a hawk’s eye to ensure smooth crowd management through continuous monitoring.
More than 400 people each in four Integrated Control Command Centres (ICCC) keep a continuous watch on big screens displaying live footage and data from hotspots to alert the personnel on crowd density and pilgrim flow.
The source of the visuals — more than 3,000 cameras, underwater drones and a battery of over 60,000 personnel on the ground.
The mega-religious event, organised every 12 years, is being held in Prayagraj from January 13 and will continue for 45 days. More than seven crore pilgrims have so far taken a holy dip at the Sangam — the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
A PTI reporter spent a day inside the main ICCC and learnt about its inner workings, including the conduct of surveillance from three angles — security, crowd management and crime prevention.
According to Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre and the ICCC in-charge, the data being captured was accurate to ensure there were no more “guesstimates”.
“This is the first time in the world that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used for crowd management at this scale. We have installed more than 3,000 cameras across the mela area and the city, of which 1,800 are AI-enabled. There is absolute no guess work, everything is based on real-time data being captured extensively,” Kumar told PTI.
“Whenever the crowd density at a particular place rises above the marked threshhold, an alert pops up on the screens and the information is communicated to the wireless grids. Teams on the ground swing into action at this point and diversions are made accordingly. There are 13 contingency schemes defined in the SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) with a different modus operandi for each scheme,” he explained.
“An alert pops up each time there is a barricade breach or traffic convergence from all directions leads to congestion or even if there is a fire,” he added.
Cylinder blast triggers fire at Maha Kumbh
Mahakumbh Nagar, Jan 19: A big fire broke out at the Maha Kumbh Mela on Sunday due to a cylinder blast, engulfing 18 tents in Sector 19, officials said.
No casualty was reported in the incident, the government said in a statement.
Kumbh Mela Chief Fire Officer Pramod Sharma said 15 fire tenders were pressed into service to contain the blaze which engulfed 18 tents. “Fire has been doused and the situation in the area is under control,” Sharma said. Earlier, Akhara Police Station In-charge Bhaskar Mishra said that two LPG cylinders exploded in Sector 19 of the Maha Kumbh Mela, causing a big fire in the camps.
Senior officials are on the spot and fire teams have managed to douse the fire, the statement issued by the government here said.
The Maha Kumbh 2025 official X handle posted, “Very sad! The fire incident at #MahaKumbh has shocked everyone. The administration is ensuring immediate relief and rescue operations. We pray Maa Ganga for everyone’s safety.” It also shared a clip that showed a thick black column of smoke billowing out from the affected area.
In a post on X, the Samajwadi Party expressed its grief over the incident and asked the government to run relief and rescue operation in fast pace. The 45-day Maha Kumbh 2025 started on Paush Purnima on January 13. More than 7.72 crore people have taken the holy dip, according to official figures available till Saturday.
PM speaks to UP CM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday to enquire about a fire incident. (PTI)