Third Kumbh Command Centre Approved, About 5,000 CCTV Cameras Being Linked in Nashik and Trimbak

The Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority (NTKMA) has approved ₹32.8 crore for a third Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) for the 2027 Simhastha. The Times of India reported this on 4 October 2026, based on the official administrative approval and NMC officials. The new centre will come up at the Rural Police headquarters in Adgaon. It is meant to be running by March 2027.

Three command centres, one network

The other two ICCCs are at the Nashik Municipal Corporation's Panchavati office and at the city police commissionerate. With Adgaon added, the mela will be watched from three control rooms: the civic body, the city police and the rural police.

According to the same report, about 4,000 CCTV cameras in Nashik and about 1,000 in Trimbak are being linked over the Smart City fibre network. That is roughly 5,000 cameras in all.

Earlier TOI reports also mentioned AI-enabled cameras and 18 drones. These details are reported by the media. We have not seen them in an official document.

The AI "Digital Twin" is still a plan

NTKMA has planned a GIS-based live dashboard, called a "Digital Twin", to run on the ICCC. As described in a TOI report of 18 August 2026, it would show crowd density and run simulations. It would also cover traffic, health, disaster response and lost-and-found.

It is part of a proposed "Maha Simhastha Kumbh AI Stack". The plan includes: - an AI call centre - an AI lost-and-found system - "KumbhDoot", an AI assistant

All of these are meant to link to the official website and app. For now they are proposals, and none of them is live. NTKMA Commissioner Shekhar Singh said on record that the system will run "human-in-the-loop". In simple words, people will stay in charge of the decisions, not the software alone.

India Today reported on 5 October 2026 that a Nashik team is studying the AI headcount and facial-recognition system that the Solapur Rural police used at the Ashadhi wari in Pandharpur. No decision to use such a system in Nashik has been announced.

Police on the ground

Cameras do not replace people on the ground. Police Commissioner Sandeep Karnik said in August that about 25,000 police personnel will be deployed in the city. Two more DCP posts have been sought, one for traffic and one for Sadhugram (TOI, 11 August 2026).

The NTKMA training plan, which covers both city and rural forces, expects more than 50,000 police. It also counts on more than 10,000 volunteers (Goda Doot, NCC, NSS) and more than 10,000 sanitation workers. The two police figures cover different areas, so they are not the same count.

What this means for pilgrims

The NTKMA plan expects about 12 crore pilgrims in total. On an Amrit Snan day it expects about 1.5 crore people in Nashik and 0.75 crore in Trimbak. Command centres and cameras are meant to help officials see crowds building up early and send help faster.

Some practical points: - The command centres are for officials. You will not contact them directly. In an emergency, call 112 for police or 108 for an ambulance. Our emergency page lists these numbers. - On Amrit Snan days, private vehicles will stop at outer parking hubs. MSRTC buses, tracked by GPS through the ICCC, will carry pilgrims in, as per the NTKMA transport plan. See our pilgrim guide for travel basics. - The AI call centre, AI lost-and-found and KumbhDoot assistant are not available yet. Be careful of any app or website that claims to be the official Kumbh assistant before NTKMA announces one. - The official ghat-wise crowd plan, road-closure orders and lost-and-found locations have not been published yet.

Check our dates page for the main bathing days. The Simhastha formally begins with Dhwajarohan on 31 October 2026, and the first Amrit Snan is on 2 August 2027.