Maha Kumbh 2025: UP Police along with paramilitary does area domination patrol, checks sensitive entry points in Prayagraj

Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 5 (ANI): Ahead of the Maha Kumbh 2025, police along with paramilitary forces carried out security checks and did area domination patrolling on Sunday to ensure security preparedness in the Mela area.
The Maha Kumbh held once every 12 years, is scheduled to begin on January 13 in Prayagraj and conclude on February 26. The main bathing rituals, known as the Shahi Snan (royal baths), will take place on January 14 (Makar Sankranti), January 29 (Mauni Amavasya), and February 3 (Basant Panchami).
Jagdish Kaliraman, ACP (Parade Area Kumbh) said that following the instruction of senior officials they are constantly making checks and also doing a thorough interrogation of the suspects.
"Senior officials keep giving us instructions regarding Maha Kumbh 2025. Yesterday DGP took our meeting...we are doing security checks constantly at the parade point as the public will enter and exit from this point only. So it's become a sensitive point and manual checking and checking with equipment keeps on going.... we are also doing checks at the district hospital where people keep coming for health check-ups..., " said the ACP.
"If we find someone suspect, we do a thorough check, and subsequently, we contact the state police from where the suspect belongs, and if a criminal record is found, the arrest is done and further action is taken," he added.
Detailing about today's checking Kaliraman said, "Today we did the area domination patrolling along with the CRPF and PAC. We had teams of local police station and bomb disposal squad as well."
Meanwhile, Prayagraj Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rajesh Dwivedi said that full arrangements have been made for the devotees attending the Kumbh Mela.
Speaking to ANI, SSP Dwivedi said, "Since people are going to take a bath, full arrangements have been made. There are boats, speedboats, water police, divers, life jackets and along with this there is deep water barricading."
SSP Dwivedi said that all cameras have Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) software to verify the vehicle number in real-time. "All cameras have Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) software, which we will use at tolls and parking lots. It has automatic number plate recognition so that we can verify the vehicle number in real-time. We have an anti-drone system," he said.
SSP Dwivedi said 27,000 AI-powered surveillance cameras have been installed for real-time monitoring of the Maha Kumbh Mela. "We have installed 27,000 cameras, the feeds from which will continuously come in. This will help us manage everything. The system also includes AI, where we have set parameters such as crowd density, crowd flow, barricade jumping, and crowd coinciding. All this information will be provided to us in real-time," he said.
SSP Dwivedi said that face recognition software will be used to identify people with criminal backgrounds. "We also have facial recognition software, which will be installed in cameras at strategic locations. The data from these cameras will be matched with our database," he said.
He also said that traffic and pilgrim movement plans have been designed in such a way that people will enter from one route and exit from another. (ANI)