Month-long Shravani Mela inaugurated in Jharkhand''s Deoghar

Deoghar (Jharkhand), Jul 10 (PTI) The month-long Shravani Mela, one of the largest religious congregations in the country’s eastern region, was inaugurated in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district on Thursday.

State Tourism Minister Sudivya Kumar, Rural Development Minister Dipika Pandey Singh and Labour Minister Sanjay Prasad Yadav inaugurated the fair with traditional rituals at Kanwariyapath in Dumma bordering Bihar.

According to the Saka Calendar, the fair is organised during the 'Shravan' month, which falls from July 11 to August 9 this year.

“The month-long fair will be celebrated in a grand way. Efforts have been made to conduct the fair hassle-free for lakhs of devotees by using technologies and reducing human intervention,” the state tourism minister said after inaugurating the fair.

The administration is using AI-Chatbot, radio-frequency identification (RFID), face recognition cameras and AI-based cameras for holding a "smooth and incident-free fair in Deoghar", the minister said.

Giving details of the technologies being utilised in the fair, a senior Deoghar administration official said an AI-based integrated mela control room has been set up.

He said 200 AI-based cameras, a chatbot for information feedback and helpline, an AI-based traffic management system, around 700 regular cameras, 10 AI-based drones, around 40 televisions and face recognition cameras have been installed, he said.

High-quality ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras at six locations, a QR-based complaint system, a location-based attendance system and a digital pavilion have also been in place, the official said.

Lakhs of devotees from various parts of the country and abroad visit Deoghar during the month of ‘Shravan’ and offer their prayers at the famous Baba Baidyanath Dham temple here.

Devotees start their 105-km journey on foot to Deoghar after taking a holy dip in the Ganga river in Bihar’s Sultanganj.

The journey ends with the pilgrims pouring the holy water on the ‘shivalingam’ at the Baba Baidyanath Dham temple.

On average, 35-40 lakh devotees visit the fair every year.

Two states—Jharkhand and Bihar— work in coordination to make the event a success, another official said.

The Deoghar administration has made elaborate preparations, ranging from crowd management to lodging facilities for devotees, he said.

Drinking water, toilets, electricity, cleanliness, and other facilities have been made for the pilgrims, the official said.

"Out-of-turn darshan for VIPs will be suspended during the Shravani Mela," he said. PTI SAN SAN BDC