Prayagraj: Anticipating that millions of pilgrims and devotees will be flocking a day before and on six main bathing days during Maha Kumbh, the mela police authorities have decided to conduct aerial surveillance with the help of choppers.
SSP (Maha Kumbh) Rajesh Dwivedi told TOI that mela police have drafted plan to deploy choppers to conduct aerial surveillance a day before and on the main snan days across entire mela campus.
He added, " The volume of the crowd will increase manifold during the main snan days, including Paush Purnima (Jan 13), Makar Sankranti (Jan 14), Mauni Amavasya (Jan 29), Basant Panchmi (Feb 3), Maghi Purnima (Feb 12) and Mahashivratri (Feb 26) the aerial surveillance will help mela police assess the ground reality in terms of crowd strength and security and take corrective measures accordingly."
Dwivedi, however, said, "The aerial surveillance will help mela cops maintain a close eye on the length of ghats (spread around 12 km) and parking areas (1850 hectares). Moreover, around 4 to 5 crore devotees are expected to take a holy dip on Mauni Amavasya alone."
Dwivedi, meanwhile, said, "State authorities will provide choppers to mela police to conduct aerial surveillance." Apart from aerial surveillance, the deployment of 20 high-tech drones will also help mela police maintain a strict watch in all 25 sectors of the Kumbh campus. A strong network of 2700 CCTV sets with AI facilities and 20 high-tech drones, along with watch towers, will help mela police turn the entire mela campus into a fortress, said SSP.