Security arrangements for the Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir have been tightened further in anticipation of large crowds during Navratri. According to a PTI report on 5 October, more than 500 AI-enabled cameras have been installed in Katra, the pilgrimage’s base camp, and an Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) is operational. Sharad Navratri begins on 11 October.
Reasi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mukund Tibrewal said a modern AI-based ICCC was ready in Katra and that cameras across the town were being used to manage crowds. He said the technology would also help monitor areas where deploying police personnel is not possible.
Monitoring through facial recognition
According to the SSP, a facial recognition system (FRS) has been installed to monitor people arriving in Katra and those passing along the pilgrimage route. Additional police personnel will be deployed at places where crowds are expected to gather, to keep orderly queues of devotees proceeding for darshan. Separate arrangements have also been made to maintain smooth traffic flow. He said the main focus was on managing crowds properly in the Bhawan area, which would be monitored through cameras and the command centre.
According to the SSP, the number of devotees at the shrine could reach around 50,000 during Navratri. Several large and small events will also take place in Katra during this period and are expected to attract substantial crowds. Screening and entry-control arrangements have therefore been made at every event venue.
Earlier, in the last week of September, a meeting chaired by Jammu Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar was held in Katra to review preparations for the Navratri festival. According to Amar Ujala’s report of 26 September, the meeting discussed security, traffic management, sanitation, water and electricity supplies, road repairs, lighting, decorations, firefighting and transport arrangements. Alongside better coordination between departments, officials were directed to ensure that essential services remained available round the clock during the festival so that any difficulty could be addressed immediately.
According to Amar Ujala, the Navratri festival from 11 to 19 October will include processions and early-morning devotional walks in Katra, as well as an all-India devotional singing competition, Bhagavat Katha discourses, a poetry gathering, wrestling contests and cultural programmes. Large numbers of devotees from different parts of the country are expected to arrive in Katra during this period.
Photo: Maheshkumarrathi / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
