Mahakumbh: Now, dedicated app for mela police to boost security

A dedicated mobile app for the use of the police department to boost security in the fair area will now be developed and used during the Mahakumbh.

This mobile app will help in increasing the efficiency, coordination and response capabilities of the police force, seamless communication among them, effective incident management and sharing of real time information during the mela, said officials.

A proposal in this regard has been approved in the 20th board meeting of the Prayagraj Mela Authority held at the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) auditorium and chaired by Prayagraj divisional commissioner and Board’s chairman Vijay Vishwas Pant, on Wednesday, they added.

During the meeting, a proposal for installation of Wi-Fi infrastructure for improving internet connectivity to provide better experience to the pilgrims visiting the Mela area and for efficient execution of various works related to tentage, sanitation and ICT-based monitoring was also approved, said officials.

Along with this, the proposal for selection of agency for arrangement of drones for surveillance and effective crowd management in the Mela area also got approval. Under this initiative, the Mela Authority will bind the agency through tender which will assist in performing tasks like real time crowd monitoring, predictive crowd control, incident response, public safety surveillance, traffic management and live data sharing.

Apart from this, the proposals to install flex signage in the Mela area, which will be of plastic free material and will reflect various spiritual scenes, and some toilet blocks, view cutters, wall art posters at the Akbar fort gate and sign boards etc for security and beautification at Fort also got approved.

Official said that the proposal for parking arrangement, guard room, boundary wall, CC road, purchase of DG set and dustbin and installation of solar lighting in the under-construction guest house of the Mela Authority was also okayed by the board. Thereafter, the proposal for procuring 10 compact manual sweeping machines and two battery operated vacuum-type litter pickers for cleaning the paved ghats, footpaths, roads and various public places of the Mela area also got approval. The use of these machines will make it easy to clean the Mela area effectively. Their powerful vacuum functionality ensures quick, complete and effective cleaning of waste materials, officials shared.

The app to be helpful in fulfilling following tasks:

▪️Accelerating decision-making process through escalation within the app’s reporting system.

▪️Will ensure digital access of each policeman to important SOPs and guidelines.

▪️Will be helpful in informing police personnel about the latest protocols and plans implemented during the event.

▪️Provide quick access to the contact details of all police officers, ensue better inter-departmental coordination.

▪️Integrate with the Bhashini app, multiple languages ​​will be supported, enabling police personnel to effectively interact with citizens of diverse linguistic backgrounds.

▪️Will help in displaying an uptodate map of the fair area with important locations such as control room, help desk and emergency exits

▪️Help in sending important notifications to selected officials.

▪️Will be push notification enabled and will also be equipped with lost and found, resource tracking, real time incident and analytics dashboard, duty roster management, citizen feedback system, visitor management and emergency broadcast system.