Mega control room to keep an eye on Ganga Sagar mela

Kolkata: For the first time ever in the history of Ganga Sagar mela, a mega control room has been set up to ensure monitoring from Bagbazar Ghat in Kolkata to Sagar beach through surveillance cameras, under the project Tirtha Sathi.

According to the claim of South 24-Parganas district authorities, such a surveillance system to ensure safety and security of pilgrims is not available even in Kumbha Mela.

A pilot run of the system has been carried out, though in a smaller capacity, in the Mela Office from December 26, as already hundreds of people from different parts of the country have started coming to take a holy dip at the confluence of river Ganga.

A makeshift hanger with an area of 2,000 square feet will be set up in a vacant plot just opposite the Mela Office. Forty 52 inch LED screens will be installed, in which footages of 500 CCTV cameras will be displayed. The cameras are being installed at Babu Ghat where pilgrims gather in Kolkata before heading towards Sagar Island in buses, all the transit points both in mainland and the island, bus stands, the mela and the temple premises.

Around 40 officials, who will undergo another training on January 4 and 5, will be monitoring the footages in the "mega control room", which will function from January 5 to 17 when more than 20 lakh people are expected to visit Sagar Island.

It may be mentioned that at present, 50 cameras have already been installed at different locations for the pilot run and this year, the dredging of Muriganga is also being carried out under the surveillance of CCTV cameras.

Y Ratnakara Rao, District Magistrate of South 24-Parganas, said that steps have been taken three months ahead to give a shape to the entire surveillance system for the safety and security of pilgrims.

Moreover, administrative and senior police officers can also watch footages of the locations in their smartphones as well. There will be two helium balloons and two drones fitted with cameras for aerial view.

At the same time, a system has been developed, using which location and movement of vessels can be tracked through GIS mapping.

Forty six giant screens

will be installed at different locations, mainly close to the transit points, including Kachuberia and Lot 8.

Information related to vessels will be made available on the screens. The information will be displayed in three languages — Hindi, English and Bengali.

Pilgrims can easily make out the exact location of a vessel and the time they need to wait for to get the same after going through the information on the screens. During a demonstration of the vessel information system, it was found that on a GIS map, red boat-like symbols were indicating the location of the vessels.

Fiber cables have been laid to improve the internet connectivity in the island and all necessary activities are being carried out to ensure that the system functions properly.