Tech to help families find missing members during Simhastha fair

To prevent the popular storyline of brothers being divided at a Kumbh fair from becoming a reality, Simhastha organisers will be using technology to reunite missing people with their families.

To prevent the popular storyline of brothers being divided at a Kumbh fair from becoming a reality, Simhastha organisers will be using technology to reunite missing people with their families.

Ujjain Simhastha is a Hindu religious mela held every 12 years in the Ujjain city of Madhya Pradesh. It attracts millions of pilgrims. (File photo)

“We have set up an IT-based help centre that will be integrated with our central control room, through which information can be monitored and transferred on a real-time basis,” deputy officer SS Rawat said.

In addition to 52 police check posts, each sector of the fairgrounds will have at least two lost and found centres.

The 10,000 electric poles have been numbered and connected to the central control room through GIS mapping technology. “So, if we receive missing complaint from any area, we would be able to exactly pinpoint where that child has lost touch with his parents,” Rawat said.

“Once we receive a missing complaint, the information will be uploaded in a software and communicated to lost and found centres in the entire mela area. Missing person’s photo will be flashed on big screens,” he added.

The coordinators will constantly update information on lost and found people. This information can also be accessed through the Simhastha Ujjain 2016 mobile app, an official said.

The high-tech solution, they hope, will reduce reaction time to any complaint, as the information will be flowing real-time. This would also reduce the number of untraced complaints, he said.

The police are also trying to integrate CCTV cameras with face-recognition system. Once the photograph of a missing person is uploaded to the system, the face-recognition technology will scan for that face in the fairgrounds.

Similarly, criminals can also be caught with the use of this technology, Rawat said.

GEARED UP FOR THE FAIR

52 police check posts set up in the mela area

2 khoya-paya kendras (lost & found centres) at every sector

10,000 electric poles in the mela area

CCTV cameras to be integrated with face recognition system

Simhastha Ujjain 2016 mobile app: Data about lost & found persons can be accessed through this app