Lucknow | Blending traditions with modern police techniques, the Uttar Pradesh police is all geared up for a seamless and incident-free Kumbh, the largest congregation in the world, which begins on Tuesday at Prayagraj. More than 12 crore people are expected to take part in the event over the next 50 days.
“This Kumbh will witness the use of innovative technologies for security,” state Director General of Police (DGP) OP Singh told PTI here on Monday, adding that a modern integrated command-and-control centre has been set up for 24-hour monitoring through 1,200 CCTV cameras.
“There will be real-time video analytics for crowd management, real-time detection and alert algorithm in overcrowding circumstances and detection of uni or bi-directional and wrong-way movements. The Trinetra app will be used for surveillance on terrorists, criminals and suspicious elements,” he said.
The DGP added that the grand traditions of Kumbh have been blended with modern police techniques to ensure an incident-free and seamless event, which will be held on an over-3,200-hectare land. “Our force is alert and ready for the event,” he said.
There would be round-the-clock monitoring of social media websites and in case of any problem, they could even be blocked, Singh said, adding that the Kumbh police stations had been integrated with the UP-100 emergency service. He said the security arrangements would be three-tier — in the Kumbh mela region, in Prayagraj and in the adjacent districts.
“The whole region has been demarcated into nine zones and 20 sectors with the deployment of over 20,000 police personnel, 6,000 homeguards, 40 police stations, 58 outposts, 40 fire stations, 80 companies of central force and 20 companies of PAC,” the DGP added.
Besides, there would be three police lines, one traffic police line, three women police stations and 317 police response vehicles to tackle an emergency situation with a response time of less than 10 minutes, he said, adding that mounted police would also be there.
With a view to counter any terrorist activity, Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) commandoes, anti-sabotage commandoes with snipers, bomb disposal units, sniffer dog squads and intelligence units have also been pressed into service, Singh said.
Besides, three modern water control rooms have been set up, which have rescue boats, floating jetties, deep-water barricading and a reflective river-floating line, he said, adding that remote-operated lifebuoys were also made available.
As many as 40 fire stations have been set up in and around the venue and over 4,000 fire hydrants, 70 high-pressure water mist motorcycles and trolley-mounted high-pressure extinguishers will also be there in case of a fire, besides fire-fighting speedboats and the Bambi Bucket system for aerial fire-fighting from helicopters, in addition to the presence of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams, Singh said.
A Bambi Bucket is essentially a perfect collapsible bucket, utilising a pilot control valve that can deliver a concentrated column of water from a helicopter.
Asserting that an effective surveillance-and-communication network has been developed for Kumbh, the DGP said besides drone monitoring, watch-towers, baggage scanners and a modern communication system will also be in place.
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