YOGA

LIFE

Establishing The Ephemeral Spiritual Town During The

SimhasthaKumbhMela, Ujjain

Do you know that the total crowd accumulating during the Simhastha is almost equal to the one-third of
the total American population?

The heart of India, Madhya Pradesh is all geared up to welcome the guests at the SimhasthaKumbhMela
in April 2016. Madhya Pradesh Government is trying its best to make the grand festival experience
comfortable, safe and memorable for all the visitors.

The authorities are planning to make use of the latest technology in order to provide best facilities and
monitor the huge crowd. They are trying their best to stay organised and pre-planned in order to handle
the crowd which is going to be in millions. Pilgrims from across the globe will be gathering at the
MahaKumbhMela for the "ShahiSnan" (Holy Dip) at the river Kshipra. Crowd management is the most
important issue which will be handled by around twenty three thousand police staff and sixty thousand
special KumbhMela volunteers. The 7.25 km long ghats are being renovated for devotees and being
rebuilt with stronger GIS-based arrangements.

An ephemeral spiritual city is constructed during the SimhasthaMahaKumbh at Ujjain that spreads on
four thousand hectares of land. Keeping in mind the management and security of the massive crowd, the
extensive area will be divided into six zones, sixteen sectors and around forty-two temporary police
stations will be created. Along with this, around six hundred CCTV cameras, four drone camera and two
hundred fifty-six watch towers will be installed for surveillance. Twenty-five thousand police officials are
specially appointed for security purposes during the month long event. Officials have also appointed
twenty bomb detection and disposal squads along with twenty-five quick response teams for security
purposes. The city police will also be provided with 2,500 wireless sets for effective communication

during the clustered event. Authorities are making all the necessary efforts for a hassle-free visit for the
devotees during Simhastha.

Every Simhastha, millions of devotees perform the holy bath ritual at the KumbhMela. They take bath in
the pious river Kshipra in order to wash away all their sins and attain "Moksha". Kshipra cleaning drive is
an initiative being undertaken by the District administration at Ujjain along with the people of Ujjain.
The drive was initiated on Sunday, December 13th 2015 with KshipraAradhana by the Finance Minister
JayantMalaiya at TriveniGhat. The Khipra cleaning drive started from TriveniGhat and ended at the
Chakrateerth. Ozone gas is also being used to disinfect and purify the water of the river Kshipra thereby,
making it safe for use. The bubbles of ozone gas will be released through pipelines to clean the water of
the holy river. The Madhya Pradesh Government has also promised to provide safe and hygienic drinking
water during Simhastha to all the devotees. The use of polythenes is being prohibited in the Mahakal
Temple area to maintain cleanliness. The authorities are even trying their best to make the whole Ujjain
city polythene-free and for the same various women self-help groups are fabricating paper and cloth
bags.

The grandiose festival of faith will be controlled technically by the means of series of watchtowers
across
all the twenty-two sectors of the land area, RFID tags, headcount cameras, satellite imagery and mobile
based density crowd will help to estimate the head counts. As per another high tech move, Ujjain has also
requested Google to implement Project Loon during the Grand SimhasthaKumbhMela 2016. These
high altitude balloons provide internet connections to rural and remote areas. If this project gets
implemented, Ujjain will be the first city in India to have Google Loon. Also, Geo fencing will monitor
the staff during Simhastha. If an employee moves away from the area of his responsibility during his/her
duty hours, the concerned monitoring officer will be immediately informed about it via SMS.

The Green Simhastha Campaign supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will ensure the
cleanliness and hygiene during Simhastha 2016. The world renowned organisation had previously
provided bins and logistics for sanitation during the KumbhMela at Nasik. BSNL is also gearing up to
provide adequate and enhanced communication services during Simhastha. The BSNL authorities will
be
creating eleven mobile towers in order to handle the ample crowd. Looking at such intense preparations
by the Madhya Pradesh Government, it seems like the Mega event is undoubtedly going to be a huge
success.

Author PriyalMatreja