Authorities in Tiruvannamalai have installed 36 surveillance cameras on nine roads to estimate the number of devotees arriving for the Deepam festival and help manage congestion across the town, Tiruvannamalai Superintendent of Police Udayakumar said.
The cameras have been installed at four locations on each of the nine roads leading into the town. According to the police, the system will be used to assess the volume of visitors and support traffic regulation when large crowds gather for the festival.
The policing plan also includes around 700 artificial intelligence-enabled cameras and 12 control rooms for monitoring. The police said the wider surveillance network would support crowd observation and security operations at multiple points across Tiruvannamalai.
The AI camera system is also expected to be linked to a police database containing photographs of about 20 lakh accused or wanted persons, according to the SP’s statement. Officials will monitor whether individuals identified through the database enter the festival area, where they move and whether they are involved in criminal activity, the report said.
The arrangements come as the town prepares for a major annual influx of devotees. Large religious gatherings place pressure on Tiruvannamalai’s road network, public transport, parking areas and pedestrian movement, making the ability to measure and redirect crowds an important part of the administration’s plan.
To manage transport, 11 temporary bus stands are planned. Parking facilities for 21,500 cars are being arranged across 155 locations. These measures are intended to keep private vehicles away from the most congested areas and provide designated points for visitors arriving by road.
The police deployment will involve 15,500 personnel, including five Deputy Inspectors General and 42 Superintendents of Police, Udayakumar said. Their duties will cover security, traffic management, surveillance and crowd control during the festival period.
The arrangements indicate that the administration is combining physical traffic measures with technology-led monitoring. Roadside cameras can provide entry and movement counts, while the control rooms are expected to bring surveillance feeds together for operational coordination. The police have not provided a separate breakdown of the camera locations, the technical systems being used or the process for handling data generated during the event.
The immediate operational challenge is to prevent congestion from spreading through the town as visitor numbers rise. The administration’s next steps include activating the temporary bus stands, operating the designated parking areas and deploying the planned police force across the festival zone.
