INDIA is using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve crowd management at the Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest religious gathering, where millions of pilgrims gather for ritual bathing.
Organisers hope the technology will help prevent deadly stampedes, a recurring issue at large-scale religious events in the country.
The six-week-long Kumbh Mela began on January 13, with an estimated 400 million pilgrims expected to attend.
Amit Kumar, a senior police officer overseeing technology at the event, said AI systems are being used to avoid overcrowding in sensitive areas. “We want everyone to go back home happily after having fulfilled their spiritual duties,” he told AFP.
India has a history of fatal crowd disasters at religious festivals. The Kumbh Mela has witnessed such tragedies in the past, including the deaths of over 400 people in a single day in 1954 and 36 fatalities in 2013 in Prayagraj, the current host city.
Organisers hope the technology will help prevent deadly stampedes, a recurring issue at large-scale religious events in the country. (Photo: Reuters)
This year, around 300 cameras and drones have been deployed to monitor crowd movement across the festival grounds and access routes.
A command and control room near the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers uses AI to analyse footage and provide real-time crowd estimates.
“We can look at the entire Kumbh Mela from here,” Kumar said, explaining that the system tracks crowd density and raises alarms when certain thresholds are breached.
The AI system uses data from cameras, drones, and transport operators to calculate crowd flows and density.
“We are using AI to track people flow, crowd density at various inlets, adding them up and then interpolating from there,” Kumar added.
The Kumbh Mela, rooted in Hindu mythology, is a massive event with crowds that organisers compare to the combined populations of the US and Canada.
A drone equipped with AI, used by the police to monitor the crowd, takes flight during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj on January 17, 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)
Six million devotees participated in ritual bathing on the festival’s first day.
Kumar noted that some crowding is unavoidable, given the cultural differences in personal space expectations.
“The standard in the West is three people per square foot, but we can afford to go several times higher than that,” he said.
Uttar Pradesh state chief minister Yogi Adityanath described the event as a blend of faith and modernity, highlighting the role of technology in ensuring safety.
Harshit Joshi, a pilgrim at the festival, said, “The fact that there are cameras and drones makes us feel safe.”
(With inputs from AFP)
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