Managing a crowd of over 1.5 to 2 crore on a daily basis for a span of 45 days sounds a daunting task comprising intricate challenges for law enforcement agencies and the administration.
Undeniably one of the largest congregations of humanity on earth, the Mahakumbh, which is nearing its finale on Mahashivratri on Wednesday, leaves behind a trail of sweet and bitter experiences. Bhanu Bhaskar, ADG, Prayagraj Zone, at the helm of affairs, shares his insights into crowd management and other aspects of the religious festival while talking to TNIE's Namita Bajpai.
Excerpts:
Did the administration really expect crowds of this magnitude at the Mahakumbh?
The previous trends and historical data available suggested that after the fourth snan, which is the Basant Panchmi Snan, there is a drop in crowd levels in the Kumbh and Mahakumbh. And then after the fifth and the sixth snan, there is another discernible drop in the magnitude of the crowd. But this time, there was an enhanced surge. So we had a consistent flow of pilgrims between 1.5 crore to two crore every day.
As the state government had estimated a footfall of 40-odd crore during the entire Mela span, what was the pre-Mela strategy chalked out for crowd management of the Mahakumbh?
So the pre-Mela strategy depends upon quite a few things. One was getting the inputs about the incoming crowds and the pace at which the crowd is coming up. So there was a regular feedback mechanism and regular inputs from all the verticals like the roads and the transport and the toll plazas and the railways. These are the regular modes of transport which people use to come to the mela. There was a regular input mechanism. That input mechanism was then used to take decisions regarding the crowd management strategy. Moreover, there were various management strategies employed which included the facilitation of the crowds, the diversion of the crowds and others.
Despite such strategies already in place, what went wrong on Mauni Amavasya, January 29, when the unfortunate stampede happened claiming so many lives? What were the major lapses?
It was extremely unfortunate because we had been working to avert any such tragedy for over the last two years. Before January 29, there were a lot of positive stories about Mahakumbh which were the result of our hard work of two years. However, the unfortunate and painful incident was all because of the massive crowd pressure. However, on this particular question there's a judicial commission which is looking into it. So, I would not like to share my views because I have to give my views before the judicial commission.
After the Mauni Amavasya stampede, what were the special measures taken by the administration for succeeding snans so as to avert the recurrence of a mishap?
There was a review meeting convened by the state Chief Secretary and Director General of Police immediately on January 30. The joint team of Chief Secretary and the DGP visited the mela and the areas where the possible weaknesses had developed and addressed them. It was followed by a high-level meeting by the Chief Minister on the same day itself. The CM also visited the mishap site on the Mela premises.
After the visit of the CM, the Chief Secretary and the DGP, we reviewed the areas where we were doing better and also those areas where we needed to improve. We picked up from where we had left and started preparing for the next snan. And then all the CCTV cameras were analyzed and the strong points were enhanced and the gaps were filled up because there was a huge crowd surge that was coming up. So all the gaps were re-looked into and additional police and administrative personnel were posted to keep a close watch of the crowd to regulate its movement.
What has been the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as it was a highly-publicized tool which was being used for the first time for crowd management and monitoring other aspects related to the mela?
It was very, very useful. Basically, Artificial Intelligence was used for the first time in the world for crowd management because the existing software was not aware of how to give input. So, we had been machine learning these softwares for over six months and testing them on Dussehra, Diwali and other such occasions when the crowd surges in respectable numbers at various specific places. Using all those inputs, we machine-learned the existing software so as to get credible inputs. The inputs thus received were very, very useful over a period of time. They could give us the density mapping and other parameters including the rate at which the crowd was surging.
How far has this entire system been helpful in managing pilgrims who get lost and separated from their kin in such congregations?
We have 10 lost and found centres which also use Artificial Intelligence along with the existing system. They included trained psychologists and trained psychiatrists because the trauma, which the children and women face under such circumstances after getting separated from the families, is immense.
So in order to make them relax, the measures were taken. Plus facial recognition technology was used to a great extent so that, in case the person is lost, his/her name and face is flashed across all the 10 centres and other places to identify the location.
The results of this use of technology have been exceedingly positive and encouraging. There's an input result of close to 95 per cent. And the remaining also, we are working on it. Thus, the facial recognition technology along with Artificial Intelligence coupled with picking up the faces from the images and the photographs and then matching it with the real faces was a cutting-edge technology which was used to reunite the persons lost in the melee with their families.
Meanwhile, most of these technologies are present, but they were machine-learned and customized to meet the requirements of the present times. Therefore, the success rate has been very encouraging. Moreover, the results which we have carried from here will now be passed on to the other three Kumbh Mela venues including Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar, so that they can also learn from our experience and implement the same technology for better management of things. Even their team is here and they have been working with us hands on for the last two months so that they can also learn from our experience.
The number of devotees thronging the Mela has breached the 63-crore mark against an estimation of 40 crore. What technique is being used to determine the precise number of devotees thronging the Mela and taking holy dip on a particular day?
A first of its kind AI-enabled monitoring of crowd density per square metre, inflow and outflow of pilgrims and ground assessment is enabling the authorities to fetch the figure of devotees visiting the Mela daily. There is an Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC) where multiple teams of police personnel, senior IPS officials, and experts are deputed and they are keeping a close watch on every alert. The alerts keep popping out on the screens in the ICCC so the authorities on the ground are directed accordingly to address a particular situation at a particular place so as to avert any untoward incident, check barricade breaches and even crime.
The 4000-acre Mela ground has around 2,750 close-circuit cameras monitoring the movement of the crowd and other activities. Of those 2750 CCTV, about 250 are AI-enabled, feeding information to the Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC) of the Mela empowering the authorities with unique and real-time insights into crowd density per square metre at the bathing ghats, footfall in the Mela premises per minute, parking status of vehicles, crowd accumulation at key junctions and the need to issue alerts based on pre-set danger thresholds.
The screens at ICCC continuously throw up images of ghats, fetching data charts and real time information on population density. The inputs are also there about people entering and leaving ghats from over half a dozen entry and exit points. Teams collate data from different sources including railways, road and transport and highways to make the accurate assessments.
What were the tools used to manage the traffic as there were reports of huge vehicular pressure in and around Prayagraj resulting in massive jams in the Sangam city, adjoining districts and on national highways?
First of all, I would greet the people of Prayagraj for extending immense cooperation in implementing the traffic plan laid out for Mahakumbh. Despite heavy vehicular flow, we could maintain the traffic movement effectively. Traffic facilitation has become possible because the vehicular movement is being monitored regularly in all the districts adjoining Prayagraj along with Lucknow zone, Kanpur zone and Varanasi zone.
Moreover, the district magistrates of all the adjoining districts are managing not only the incoming crowds but also the vehicular traffic on the ground themselves. So all the districts touching Prayagraj more or less witnessed seamless traffic movement all this long. Monitoring through drones is also being done regularly. However, there have been bits of misleading information about long traffic jams in and around Prayagraj on social media.
I would urge everyone to follow information disseminated by the official social media handles of the UP government, UP Police department and Mela authorities in order to avoid the traffic jams which are caused more by misinformation.