Mysore Dasara 2018 is the 408th anniversary of the famous Dasara celebration. The 10-day celebration is unique in a way that it attracts tourists from around the world – an estimated 12-15 lakh people visit each year. But this sheer number of people visiting Mysuru in Dasara season makes it a highly challenging task for the city administration to monitor the crowd movements and prevent cases of lost children. But thanks to a combination of innovative corporate marketing and Mysuru Police use of technology, this year, there may be less such cases.
To prevent cases of lost children during Mysore Dasara, the city police have roped in telecom firm Vodafone Idea which is offering radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag to all children under 14 years of age. The tag which is hung on the neck of children at any of the three entry points to the Mysuru Palace, ensure their movements and location remain tracked till the time they return to the entry or exit point.
“The sheer number of people visiting Mysuru each Dasara season makes it a highly challenging task to monitor the crowd movements and prevent cases of lost children,” said Mysuru Police Commissioner A. Subrahmanyeswara Rao, adding that RFID technology tags help simplify the City Police force task of keeping a watchful eye on children under 14 years of age.
To get the RFID tag during Mysore Dasara, families travelling with children under 14 years of age has to visit the Mysuru State Police or Vodafone Idea tents at any of the three entry or exit points to the Mysuru Palace. Post registration, each child is being provided with RFID tag mapped to the child's name, guardian's name, contact number and other relevant details.
If a child with an RFID tag is separated from family, police officials finding the child take him/her to the control centre where the RFID reader scans the tag. The child's whereabouts are immediately passed on to the mobile number registered in the card. Police officials expect that this will significantly prevent the cases of lost children which has been one of the biggest challenges they face during Mysore Dasara.
