Meenakshi Amman Temple brought under CCTV surveillance ahead of Kumbabishekam

MADURAI: Madurai’s Meenakshi Amman Temple and its surrounding areas have been brought under CCTV surveillance as part of security arrangements for the Kumbabishekam scheduled for September 17.

In this connection, officials have installed about 51 LED screens at the Puthu Mandapam control centre to monitor the entire temple premises from a single location, manage crowd congestion, and identify suspicious persons. “More than 200 advanced CCTV cameras and Face Recognition System (FRS) cameras have been installed across the temple premises and surrounding areas to ensure the safety of the devotees,” said A.G. Inigo Thiyan, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Madurai City to DTNEXT.

Madurai District Collector Nishant Krishna and City Police Commissioner Rajendran, IPS, inspected the control room and CCTV monitoring centre set up at Puthu Mandapam on Wednesday. During the inspection, they reviewed the quality of CCTV footage, recording capabilities and coordination among security personnel.

“As lakhs of devotees are expected to attend the event, we need to ensure their safety. As people would be witnessing the Kumbabishekam from the four major streets around the temple, property offenders could use this opportunity to steal their valuables. Hence, we have installed FRS to identify them,” he said.

The city police have already prepared a list of property offenders along with their criminal antecedents and uploaded their photographs to the computer system. “If the offenders are seen roaming in the streets, the FRS will immediately match their faces and alert the police. We will immediately secure them,” said Inigo Thiyan.

“For the next eight days, 160 officials from 10 key departments, including the Police Department, Madurai Corporation, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department and Revenue Department, will be deployed on a shift basis at the control room for 24x7 surveillance,” said the officer.

More than 300 walkie-talkies will be provided to personnel so that information relating to security, crowd management, emergency drinking water and sanitation can be immediately communicated to the control room for necessary action, said a senior revenue officer.

“For instance, if there is a shortage of drinking water, it will be immediately communicated from the control room to Corporation officials and the issue will be resolved immediately,” he said.

LED screens will also be installed at major crowded locations, including Periyar Bus Stand and Mattuthavani Integrated Bus Stand, to provide devotees with a live telecast of the consecration ceremony.

The district administration said that all security and precautionary arrangements were being made on a full scale to ensure that devotees could participate in the Kumbabishekam safely and peacefully.