Hyderabad Police have introduced an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered crowd management and surveillance system for the first time during the Sri Ujjaini Mahankali Bonalu celebrations in Secunderabad, as part of enhanced security arrangements for the annual festival.

Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar inspected the AI-based Crowd Management System installed at the Mahankali Police Station on Sunday and reviewed its functioning with officials. Later, accompanied by his family, he visited the Sri Ujjaini Mahankali Temple, offered prayers to the presiding deity and presented silk robes and bonam before inspecting the security arrangements in and around the temple.

The Commissioner said around 2,500 police personnel had been deployed for bandobast at the Ujjaini Mahankali Bonalu celebrations. He noted that after the peaceful conduct of the Golconda and Balkampet Bonalu festivities, celebrations at the Ujjaini Mahankali and Lal Darwaza temples were being held on a grand scale.

The AI-enabled system integrates CCTV cameras installed around the temple premises with Facial Recognition Technology, enabling police to identify and track habitual offenders, chain snatchers and pickpockets in real time. It also monitors the movement of devotees through queue management, analyses crowd density using threshold mapping and alerts officials when overcrowding exceeds safe limits, allowing preventive action to avert stampedes or other untoward incidents.

The Commissioner said the Hyderabad City Police were working in coordination with the Endowments Department, GHMC and other government agencies to ensure the smooth conduct of the festival. He appealed to devotees to cooperate with the police and celebrate the festival peacefully.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crimes) P. Srinivasulu, Secunderabad Zone DCP Rakshita Krishnamurthy, Traffic-I DCP Avinash Kumar, Task Force DCP Vaibhav Gaikwad Raghunath, CCS DCP Chaitanya Kumar, Additional DCP Narsaiah, ACP Sreedhar and other officials were present.