Sagar Mela 2025: How West Bengal making Sagar Island an eco-friendly 'green' destination

Sagar Island: The West Bengal government has taken a number of initiatives to make the Sagar Island an eco-friendly "green" destination in 2025 with the introduction of jute bags, plastic-free and have embarked upon a slew of IT related initiatives, including a mega control room at Sagar Mela ground, District Magistrate of South 24 Parganas Sumit Kumar told ET on Sunday.

The Sagar Mela will start on January 9 and the holy dip at Makar Sankranti will take place on January 14 midnight.
"The mega control has been opened with giant screens and CCTVs monitoring facilities," Kumar said.


"Monitoring will be done through live tracking systems of the pilgrims from all points of the Mela and at Sagar Mela ground by the West Bengal government, which is enabled with multiple monitoring desks. There will be around 100 manpower altogether round the clock," Kumar told ET.

"The Chief Minister is coming to Gangasagar Mela tomorrow. The mela preparations have started six months ahead and people from across the country converge here for a holy dip on Makar Sankranti," the District Magistrate said. There are huge security arrangements, including police elaborate arrangements with Coast Guard, Indian Navy and civil defence volunteers are in place.sag

ISRO technology has been implemented for a GPS-based monitoring system and giant-size drones are high-tech security measures to ensure pilgrims' safety.

"Among the IT initiatives, we have the mega control room from which we can monitor various points of the mela from Outram Ghat to Kachuberia, Namkhana and so on. Every vehicle, vessels, launches and buses will be monitored and there will be a live tracking system as well. The mela is enabled with more than 1152-1200 CCTVs and live monitoring with the help of ISRO. “Drones will be used for surveillance.," senior officers of state administration said.

"There are wristbands which have been introduced for elderly and children and in case they are separated from their families, we can scan the band and get the mobile number of family members. We have Bandhan app and selfie points," Sumit Kumar said.

"We have taken initiatives to introduce several IT initiatives, including Bandhan app, CCTVs and drones and several other facilities. The CCTVs are available at several points including Kachuberia, Outram ghat and all other points. Bands will be used for kids to minimize the incidents of losing kids," District Magistrate of South 24 Parganas Sumit Kumar told ET.