This will mark the first ‘Krishna Pushkaralu’ festival celebration since the formation of Telangana and the state government is looking to promote the event globally to burnish its image. The K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) government is hailing the 12-day affair starting August 12 as the Kumbh Mela of the south in magnitude.
Interestingly, the Andhra Pradesh government, last year, celebrated Godavari Pushkaram with great gusto last July.
The Telangana police have developed KrisP, an e-bandobast application to effectively monitor pilgrims, police personnel, resources, people movement and highway traffic in an effort to make the once-in-twelve year congregation a smooth affair.
“This experiment is going to herald a new phase in India in large-scale crowd management in major events which are prone to stampede,” say the district police.
The new state has made it a policy to celebrate all festivals unique to the state such as Bonalu, Batukamma, Sammakka-Sarakka as state-festivals to promote the rich culture of the state to sustain tourism and unity among the people.
Unlike Sammkka-Sarakka pilgrims, the ones who come to Krishna Pushkaralau constitute the middle class who use smartphones.
The police have, therefore, deployed the app-based technologies to streamline the pilgrim movement to prevent possible congestion and stampede at the bathing ghats.
Also, in order to streamline the traffic going towards the ghats, the app will constantly relay information about traffic congestion and deliver instructions to be followed for safe arrival to and return from the river ghats.
A team of tech-savvy cops from the district headed by, Rema Rajeswari, district police superintendent, after working on it for two months, has developed the app for Pushkaralu.
According to Rema, a post–graduate in computer science from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, these app-based technologies are being deployed in addition to the conventional spot information centres.
The SP today launched the android application “KrisP” ( think Krishna Pushkaralu), which can be downloaded free of cost from Play Store. “The mobile app provides details of all the Pushkara Ghats in the district and their importance as well as Google navigation to all the ghats from all the district headquarters. The app will also display live updates about traffic and crowd at each Ghat as well as the contact numbers of Police officers of all Pushkara Ghat areas,” the SP said The app will also provide alternate routes to reach the required destination in case of heavy traffic.
Incessant rains, coupled by the VIP movement are expected to complicate crowd management on the banks of the river Krishna, which is expected to flood during the Pushkar period.
“I have planned Diversion-Holding technique. In all, 23 major and 16 minor diversion routes have been planned to ease congestion at major ghats. And 16 major Holding areas with facilities (washrooms, food stalls, PA systems, Digital displays to announce important information) to rest for a while during the holdup,” Rema told Asianet Newsable.
