A vast temporary city, sprawling across 10,000 acres and accommodating over one crore pilgrims and sadhus at any given time, presents a unique challenge for crowd management. With approximately 20 lakh visitors each day, the Integrated Control Command Center diligently monitors the situation to ensure smooth operations and prevent any unfortunate incidents.
More than 400 people in each of the four Integrated Control and Command Centres (ICCC) constantly watch live footage and data from hotspots on large screens and monitor the flow of crowds and pilgrims. To achieve this, a team of more than 3,000 cameras, underwater drones, and more than 60,000 personnel have been deployed on the ground.
The Maha Kumbh commenced in Prayagraj on January 13 and will continue for 45 days. Over seven crore pilgrims have already partaken in the holy bath at the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati (invisible) rivers. The ICCC is providing comprehensive surveillance for security, crowd management, and crime prevention.
According to Amit Kumar, the Superintendent of Police and officer in charge of the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC), who is an IPS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, the data is being captured accurately to eliminate guesswork.
“This is the first time that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used for crowd management on this scale globally. Over 3,000 cameras have been installed in the fair area and the city, 1,800 of which are AI-enabled. This eliminates guesswork, with all operations based on real-time data,” he said.
Explaining the methodology, Amit Kumar said that whenever the crowd at a particular place exceeds the prescribed limit, an alert pops up on the screen, and the information is relayed to the wireless grid. Subsequently, teams on the ground swing into action, and diversions are made as needed. There are 13 contingency plans defined in the SOP, each with a different methodology. He further stated that every time a barricade breaks, a jam occurs due to the merging of traffic from all directions, or even a fire breaks out, an alert is triggered.
