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Real-time monitoring of crowds at Ganga Sagar Mela this year
In order to ensure the safety and security of the lakhs of pilgrims who turn up at the Ganga Sagar Mela on Sagar Island in South 24 Parganas district on the occasion of Makar Sankranti every year, the district administration has decided to introduce a real-time monitoring system using surveillance cameras. In 2018, pilgrims are expected to start going to Ganga Sagar from January 10 onwards.
Using this system, all senior administrative and police officers will be able to watch live footages of all the transit and other crucial points on their mobile phones. This will ensure that officers get better in crowd management.
Though surveillance cameras are used every year to get crowd footages, this time, a real-time monitoring system would be introduced. To make it effective, the district authority has decided to increase the total number of surveillance cameras.
To make the project successful, the district administration has decided to turn all the transit points into Wi-Fi zones so that officers do not face any problem in getting internet connection on their phones, for the monitoring system to function.
After reaching the transit points in the mainland, pilgrims need to cross the Muriganga river in vessels to reach the Sagar Island. After crossing the river, they need to take a bus or a car to reach the confluence of the river Ganga.
Since pilgrims need to change their mode of transport at least twice en oute Sagar Island and back, crowd management is an important task for the administration. Moreover, vessel services remain suspended for sometime during low tide, with lakhs of pilgrims waiting on both sides to cross the river, and this makes the task tougher.
In such a situation, the administration every year needs to take necessary steps to ensure safety and security of pilgrims. Going a step ahead this time, the administration is developing a real-time monitoring system to keep a round-the-clock tab on the situation at the transit and other crucial points.
Another safety measure that that the administration has decided to take is to increase the number of halting zones for pilgrims to nine – three on the mainland and six on the island. Instead of hurrying to gather near the jetties, that increases the chances of untoward incidents, pilgrims can take rest and wait for their turn before catching a vessel.
