Greatest Show on Earth : Kumbh Mela
---------------------------------------------
Here
is a brief comparison :
HAJ PILGRIMAGE
· No
of Visitors ………………………… 2 Million
· No
of Buses…………………………… 21,000
· No
of Incoming Flights…………… 14,000
· Civil
Defense Personnel…………. 18,000
· Copies
of Quran distributed……. 8 Million
· Pilgrims
expected in 2030………. 30 Million
· Pilgrims
from India to Haj………… 1.75 lakh
· Revenue
from pilgrims……………… $ 12 billion ( $ 6,000 per pilgrim )
· Revenue
by 2022 ( expected )…. $ 150 billion
· 2030 Targets :
# 3.6 million sq m
commercial space
# 115 Buildings
# 70,000 hotel
rooms
# 9,000 housing units
KUMBH MELA
· Dates
……………………………………….. Jan 14 – March 04 ( 2019 ) – 49 days
· Govt
Expenditure Budget…………… Rs 2,000 crore
· Area
allotted……………………………. 2,500 hectares
· No
of Sectors………………………….. 20
· No
of Camps………………………….. 5,000 ( by various
Religious organizations )
· No
of Pilgrims expected……….. 120
Million ( 12 crore )
· Max
no of pilgrims on single day.. 30 million on Feb 04 ( Mauni
Amavasya )
· No
of Foreigners expected………… 10 lakh ( 1 million ) from
75 nations
· No
of NRIs expected………………….. 20 lakh ( a TENT CITY for
5,000 )
· No
of Toilets to be built……………… 150,000 ( at a cost of Rs
550 Cr )
· Jetties
on Bathing Ghats…………… 5
· No
of bathers at Sangam……………. 20 lakh every hour
· No
of LED lights………………………….. 38,000
· No
of workers for Toilets……………. 15,000
· Capacity
of Pandal in each sector… 20,000 pilgrims
· Pandal
for meditation ………………….. 20,000 capacity
· No
of 4G telecom towers………………. 45
· No
of Police Stations……………………… 40
· No
of Fire Stations…………………………… 40
· No
of CCTV cameras……………………… 1,000
· No
of Policemen…………………………….. 20,000
· No
of Life Guards………………………… 1,100
· No
of extra trains by Railway……….. 150
· Frequency
of Shuttle Buses…………. Every 10 minutes
· No
of Kumbh related projects……… 261 ( cost of Rs
5,800 Cr )
· Pilgrims
who lost life in 2013…..
42 ( in a stampede at Railway Station )
This
comparison shows that Kumbh will be nearly 60 TIMES bigger ( in terms of
pilgrims ) than Haj ! ( 120 million vs 2 million )
As
to how Saudi manages the vast crowd at Haj, following makes interesting reading
:
Saudi Arabia shows mastery of crowd control during
haj [ TOI / 23 Aug 2018 ]
But , with all their “ Tourist Revenue “ , I am
surprised why Saudis have not thought of implementing my following suggestion ,
SIMPLE
SOLUTION for STEMPEDE [
24 Sept 2015
]
despite the fact that ,
· In 1990 , some 1400 pilgrims died in Haj stampede
· On 23 Sept 2015 , some 770 pilgrims died in a stampede
But as far as KUMBH- 2019 is concerned ,
we have following considerations :
· Because of expected crowd of 120 million
pilgrims, threat of a stampede are far greater / real
· We have an opportunity to provide to Foreign
Visitors , such an enjoyable / happy / fun experience that the Kumbh Mela site
becomes a YEAR ROUND
attraction, drawing 15 million Foreign Visitors in 2019 to India ( as compared
to 10 million who visited in 2017 and brought in $ 27 million of exchange )
To
achieve these goals , I urge Shri Yogi Adityanathji [ CM – UP ] and Shri V K
Anand [ Kumbh Mela Adhikari ] , to consider the following precautionary SAFETY
measures to prevent a stampede :
METHOD A [ HORIZONTAL CONVEYORS
] :
Horizontally
running escalators on ground level ( like Conveyor
Belts ) , to bring the
pilgrims from camps to
bathing ghats where they get onto “ short-run “ escalators for moving towards
the water and backward from the water
On both the sides of these “
short – run “ escalators , there will be “ Fountains “ of holy water , forming
a long ( 100 ft ) CANOPY / CASCADE , under which pilgrims will pass
, without walking
BATHING
METHOD : Under “ FOUNTAINS “ of holy waters
METHOD B
[ ROPE WAYS WITH HANGING CHAIRS ] :
Just
install , one above another ( vertically ) , several rope-ways
with hanging chairs for 2 persons per chair , safely secured by belts
All
rope-ways picking up pilgrims at the Boarding Station and then dropping off at
the Disembarkation Station , after passing under “ Holy
Water Sprinklers “ at the bathing ghats ( without having to get off
the suspended moving chairs )
BATHING
METHOD : A “ Shower “ of holy water
METHOD C
[ ROLLER COASTERS ] :
Pilgrims
will get onto roller coaster trollies at the Embarkation point .
Coaster
will move towards the river waters ( at a height of 20 feet for a panoramic
viewing experience ) .
When
it reaches 30 feet over the river , coaster will slope down in such a way that
the trollies dip into the water
The
pilgrims will get submerged into the water [ only up to their
chests ] for a distance of 10 feet
At
the end , coaster trollies will emerge from the water , again rise to a height
of 20 feet and return to a Dis-embarkation point
BATHING
METHOD : A genuine DIP into the holy waters
Main
Concept :
Simply eliminate walking ( stampede happens when impatient people try to
overtake
pilgrims walking in front of them or have ability to run helter-skelter under
some
perceived
threat )
What can this “ Escalator / Ropeway “ innovation do for
India ?
In 2017 , India got 10 million foreign
visitors , bringing in $ 27 Billion
$ 2700 per foreign visitor as against Saudi
getting $ 6,000 per visitor !
With proposed innovation , this figure
could well go up to 15 million tourists in 2019 ,
bringing in $ 150 billion in foreign exchange ! ( $ 10,000 per visitor ! )
This is an opportunity to re-write our
TOURISM story !
I hope Shri K J Alphons ( Minister of
Tourism / mos.tourism@gov.in ) asks ,
· Ministry
of Urban Development to prepare a MASTER PLAN for Kumbh centered around this
CONVEYOR-BELT concept
· India’s
leading Engineering Companies to submit their “ Expression of Interest “
What
else can make Kumbh , “ The Greatest Show on Earth “
?
Please
consider the following :
· Strategically
located “ Food Courts “ and “ Shopping Malls “
· A
doctor with emergency “ Medical Aids / Ambulance “ in each Police Station
· Free
Wi Fi hotspots all over the ground ( Foreign Visitors want to use Skype ! )
· A
200 ft tall “ Central Tower “ with “ Viewing Gallery “
· Sitting
/ resting benches for the elderly, in small “ Gardens “ all over the
place
· No
entry to any private vehicles
· “
Bicycle Lanes “ with Bicycle Stands every 500 m ( with FREE use of bicycles )
· At
each “ Arrival Point “ ( Railway Station / Bus Stands / Airport / Parking Plots
for private vehicles ) , each arriving visitor to be welcomed with a RFID
sensor embedded wrist-band ( with a beautiful rendering of Ganga Mata and
bearing a description which reads :
“ नमो गंगे – Kumbh 2019
“
Before issuing the wrist band, pilgrim’s
AADHAR NO will be entered into the sensor
It will be mandatory for the visitors to
wear this Wrist Band as long as they are inside the “ PILGRIMAGE PERIMETER “
This will help the central PILGRIM TRAFFIC
CONTROL ROOM , to track :
# each and every visitor
#
missing / lost persons
# mischief-mongers / miscreants
# accident victims / sick persons
For a fool proof solution for CROWD CONTROL
, I urge Kumbh Mela Administration to consider :
# Increasing the no of
CCTV cameras from 1,000 to 10,000
# Couple these with a
FACE RECOGNITION software , such that those who attempt
to “ WALK “ ( instead of riding ) inside the Pilgrimage Perimeter ( area
covered by
Methods A / B / C , described earlier ) will find their face, name , and their
Aadhar
ID number displayed on a large LED screen , as described in :
I am sending this blog to the
following Officers / Organizations , concerned with making KUMBH–2019, a happy
experience for pilgrims. Readers may want to contact them :
Currently ,
we get some 70,000 visitors every day at Taj Mahal . For better security ,
there is a plan to restrict this number to 40 ,000 per day
Without having to worry about security ,
can we raise this number to 100,000 per day ?
Yes , of course ! Install
ropeway around the Taj and provide “ Augumented Reality headsets “ to visitors
( no entry inside the mausoleum ! )
26 Aug 2018
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
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