PRYAGRAJ: As the Maha Kumbh unfolds to mark the world’s largest gathering of people over the 45-day mela that started on Jan 13, a first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence-enabled monitoring of population density per square metre, inflow and outflow of people and ground assessments by authorities shows that on a regular day around 10-15 lakh people are estimated to be visiting the mela and belong to the “floating” lot of visitors who come and go.
Another 50 to 60 lakh people are estimated to be staying in Maha Kumbh Nagar, taking the total number of people present at the mela on any given day to 65-70 lakh.
On the first day of the mela on Jan 13 – known as Paush Purnima nearly 1.65 crore devotees converged at the Triveni Sangam and the ghats along the river. On Jan 14, the number of visitors shot up to 3.5 crore. Now, the administration is gearing up for Jan 29 when nearly 6 crore people are expected to participate in the Shahi Snan on Mauni Amavasya.
With nearly 40 crore people expected to throng to Maha Kumbh Nagar, at the core of this monitoring exercise are the Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) where hundreds of police personnel, officials and experts are busy keeping a watch on every alert on their screen to check and issue directions to avert a stampede, check barricade breaches, streamline traffic management and even check crime.
TOI visited one of the ICCCs to understand what goes on behind the scenes to arrive at the numbers being cited by the administration. As large screens, throw up images of the busy ghats, data charts reflect how AI is delivering real-time information on population density and the people entering and leaving ghats from more than half a dozen prime entry and exit points.
Superintendent of police, in-charge of ICCCs, Amit Kumar said that with thousands of cameras capturing the crucial data in the Kumbh area and the city, AI is proving to be an enabler in addition to the institutional ground information from the area and railways and road transport department. He shared that using the information, the police are also able to send out alerts on deciding on diversions and act in time to prevent overcrowding. He said AI is helping them bolster not just estimates of visitors but also engage in traffic management and check crime.
A team is also working to collate data from different departments and ministries like railways, road and transport and highways.
Additional DM Vivek Chaturvedi saidthe AI model being used at the ICCCs has been tested repeatedly on population density per square metre and related algorithms that reflected an accuracy of 90 to 92%.