Simhasth 2016 was a major religious event held in Ujjain, India from April 22 to May 21, 2016. Over 5 crore pilgrims were expected to attend, with the largest crowds of over 1 crore predicted on bathing days. Extensive infrastructure and facilities were developed over years of planning to ensure security, cleanliness, and services for pilgrims. A comprehensive monitoring system utilized GIS, drones, CCTV, mobile apps, and web portals to track infrastructure development and respond to needs. Cultural programs also enriched the experience for those attending the important 30-day Hindu religious festival.

1. Mega Event Management
Simhasth 2016
Dr. Ravindra Pastor (IAS)
Commissioner
Ujjain

2. MYTHOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF
SIMHASTH KUMBH

3. Astrological Alignment during Simhasth
• Simhasth Kumbha festival is organized under an auspicious celestial
configuration:
• Jupiter is in Simha or Leo
• the Sun is in Mesha or Aries

5. Ujjain – City of Time
•Lord Mahakaleshwar has been deity of time
• Ujjain has been called as Nabhipradesh or Manipur Chakra
• It is situated on Topic of Cancer and 0° longitude hence before
Greenwich it was a center for calculation of time and still Hindu Pnachang
using it
• Lord Krishna has been quoted in Shrimadbhagwadgeeta,
‘Ahamedbakshayaha kalo dhataham vishwatomukhaha’.
• Seminal authors from Varahamihira to Bhaskaracharya attribute it to
several calculations including standard time
• The city is situated 23.9 degree northern latitude and 74.75 degree
eastern longitude
• Due to its unique geographical situation,
‘Agyachakram Smrita Kashi Ya Bala Shrutimurdhani
Swadhishthanam Smrita KanchiManipuram Avantika’
• The Lord Mahakaleshwar’s idol is situated at the intersection point and
it is called the center of the earth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3_RvDbhLLk

6. The Concept of Moksha
• In Skand Puran Avantika Khand written if soneone take bathin
Ganga he will get ride of sins but if he take bath in Shpira is will
get Moksha
• Ujjain is the Shavya sect under Tantrik centre
• Ujjain has Lord Shiva Pantheon- Parvati, Ganish, Kartikey, Kal
Bharava, Rudra, Kritkaye, Matrikaye etc temple
• Shiva idoal situated is south facing
•

8. Important Facts
• Total expected pilgrims: 5 Cr
• Total projected pilgrims @ 11% growth from last event
• Tentative proposed area : ~3000 hectares
• Maximum on day of Shahi Snan - 1crore (~80 lacs floating +
~20 lacs resident)
• Total Event days: 30 days
• Dates: April 22, 2016 to May 21, 2016, Vikram Samvat 2073
• Three Flag stations
• 6 Satellite town.
• Mela Area divided into 6 Zones and 22 sectors

9. Stakeholders
• Akhara’s
• Sant’s
• Sadhu’s
• Devotee’s
• Pilgrim’s
• Religious people's
• General public

10. Stakeholders
• Traders
• Transporters
• Service providers
• Media
• VIPs
• Police
• Civil administration
• Social Service Organization

11. Planning
• Plan was focused on providing
• SEVA - General services
• SUVIDHA- Facilities
• SURAKSHA- Security

12. Requirement Analysis
Water Requirement for a single person per day in liters.
Total water requirement by Pilgrims/Visitors/day will be
“Expected Population X water required per day in
liters”= per day requirement of Water
• Further dividing this into requirement by Permanent
population and floating population we will get the actual
requirement per day.

13. Major Projects based on Gap
Assessments
S.No Department dk;ksZa dh la[;k Lohd`r jkf'k
1 yksd fuekZ.k ¼Hk@i½ 109 417.63
2 yksd fu-fo-¼bZ-,.M ,e-½ 23 26.38
3 yksd fuekZ.k foHkkx ¼lsrq½ 15 235.35
4 e-iz-lM+d fodkl fuxe 2 9.82
e-iz-lM+d fodkl fuxe ¼chvksVh½ 2 165.85
5 yksd LokLF; ;kaf=dh 21 164.64
6 uxj fuxe mTtSu$yks-Lok-;ka-u-fu- 61 453.26
7 tylalk/ku foHkkx 34 160.36
8 esyk dk;kZy; 9 50.87
9 x`gfoHkkx ¼iqfylv/kh{kd½ 29 296.06
10 x`gfoHkkx ¼gksexkMZ½ 6 18.79

14. Reverse timeline
2012
High level Meeting
on planning and
vision
2014
Start of
Infrastructure
work of
Permanent
nature
2015
Ground
level visits
Weekly
review
2016
Simhasth
Starts
from 21st
April to
22nd May
2016

15. GIS Based Planning
Plans were first prepared on GIS Maps and then implemented on field this
reduced Implementation time ,helped in reducing errors and were also as
source of monitoring the work on field.

16. Glimpse of Infrastructure built for SIMHASTH

17. Innovation and Research
The KUMBH Mela Experiment- Research study conducted by
consortium which included IISC Bangalore, University of Amstredam, ITMO
university and Nanyang Technology University funded by DIETY (India) and NWO
(The Netherlands)
This proposal addresses three key research areas related to the understanding and
management of huge human crowds: Data Collection; Data Analysis; Modelling and
Prediction .

18. Suvidha- Facilities
•24*7 deployment of Safai karmachari’s to keep Mela area clean
•More than 50,000 units of temporary toilets were built in the Mela area for
Pilgrims and visitors
• Help Desk- To Provide necessary Help and Guidance to Pilgrims and visitors
•24*7 Drinking water supply in the Mela area around 1000 temporary water huts
were created in the Mela area
•Make shift hospitals
•More than 300 E- Rikshawas and Free public transport facility during Mela
duration
•Insurance for all Pilgrims and Administrative Staff
•SMART Parking

19. CALL CENTER- A dedicated Call center with
25 lines was established which worked 24*7.
1100’ is the four digits, number where pilgrims
can avail knowledge about Simhastha Mela,
from across the nation. Pilgrims can use this
facility to lodge their complaints, queries,
objections, any special requirement or
essential information required regarding
Simhastha.
FAQ- A repository of around 6000 Frequently
asked question was prepared keeping in mind
the requirement of the Pilgrims, Visitors and
other stakeholders. These FAQ’s were made
readily available to the Administration, Help
desk and Call centre officials .A software was
also built where general public can get
answers to their queries using FAQ’s
Suvidha- Facilities

20. WATER HUTS PLANNED IN THE
MELA AREA

22. Suraksha-Security
•Setting of state of the art police control room
•24*7 Surveillance using Hi-tech CCTV Camera-
with Face recognition, motion detection, number
plate recognition, Movement tracer and other
features (481 CCTV Cameras on 125 locations for
Simhasth in addition to 333 CCTV cameras planned
for Ujjain city at 104 locations)
•Drone based surveillance during snan days
•Deployment of more than 25,000 police personnel
•High quality Public Address system
•Location Details with Geo referenced boundaries of
51 Thane with other details (# of Staff and other
details)

23. Monitoring Mechanism
• Standup Meetings
• Weekly Meeting
• Sadhikar Samiti Meeting
• Pre Mortem
• Work Tracking System
• Contingency Planning
a) PLAN A
b) PLAN B
c) PLAN C for every services

24. Planned
Actual
Legends
GIS Monitoring
Planned vs Actual Work - PHE

25. Administrative Hierarchy
MELA OFFICE
Zone-1 Zone -2 Zone-3 Zone-4 Zone-5 Zone-6
1
2
3Sector
4 Sector Sector
Sector
Sector
Departments
at State level Commissioner
and collector
office
Grass root workers
Level -1
Level-2
Level-3
Level-4

26. Manpower- Administrative Unit
• More than 28 departments partcipated
• More than 12000 personnel deployed
• Training of more than 6000 personnel carried out.
• Organization hierarchy created with escalation between level’s
• Duty order with specific terms of reference from each specific
level based on requirement at departmental and at field level
• Real time Complain /Request management system

27. HRMS- PORTAL
Portal was utilized for
• Human Resource Management
• Work Allocation
• HR Management
• Deployment of resources
• Monitoring of Resources
• Reports generation
• Grievance Management
• Communication with field
Personnel

28. Web Portal
The portal was a communication medium between Administration and
general public as well as between administration and Personnel deploy
in the field.
Following functions were performed by the portal :-
• Raising request / Complain regarding services
• Real time monitoring of Zone and Sector level works
• Real time Environmental Parameters reports
• Geo Fencing report of resources
• Feedback monitoring
• Centralized database for Mobile application and Call centre
• Real time availability of Parking areas, Ghats etc.
• Weather Forecast

29. Web Portal- Dash Board

30. Web Portal- Environmental Parameters

31. Department wise Complain/Request Monitoring through Portal
Web Portal- Request Monitoring

32. Web Portal- Geo Fencing report
Geo-fencing - is a feature in a software program that uses the global positioning
system (GPS) or radio frequency identification (RFID) to define geographical
boundaries. A geofence is a virtual barrier.

33. •A Comprehensive Mobile Application was
Created for providing Information about
Simhasth, Ujjain, about Snan dates, real time
information about weather, important events
of the day, How to reach, where to stay and
about emergency services etc.
•It also provided the navigation features
using the GIS Maps and details of events of
the day in the Mela area.
•It also provided the facility to raise a request
which directly gets linked to Portal.
• Was available on android, windows and
IOS platform.
Mobile - Application
More than 26000 people downloaded it.

34. Citizen - Feedback

35. CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

36. Challenges
•CROWD MANAGEMENT
•UNPREDICTED CROWD BEHAVIOUR
•ADVERSE CLIMATE CONDITION
•RUMORS AND IT’S PREVENTION
•COMMUNICATION TO BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID
•MOBILISING MULTI CADRE STAFF
• UTILIZATION OF ASSETS AFTER THE MELA WAS OVER

38. Lesson Learned
• Need to be Proactive than Reactive
• Always have a backup plan
• Planning should be based on the worst scenario possible
• Control over Time, Scope and Cost is must
• Never give more than what is required
“The more time you spend Contemplating what you
should have done…… You lose valuable time planning
what you can do & will do”

39. Records and Recognition
Simhasth Ujjain set World record in following areas:
1. Largest gathering of Mankind at one place at one time
2. Largest deployment of Sweepers and cleaning
personnel per day in any event
3. largest excursion of public Wi-Fi sessions in an event
4. Maximum People taking religious Tour at one time-
Panchkroshi Yatra
Recognition
• SKOCH order of merit for IT Initiatives during
Simhasth (Shortlisted in Smart Governance category)

42. Jai SHRI MAHAKAL