As ‘Dev Bhoomi’ Himachal Pradesh has many famous religious shrines and Shaktipeeth temples, a team led by HP Director General of Police Sanjay Kundu visited Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh for firsthand lessons on security and crowd management arrangements.

Kundu along with Northern Range DIG Sumedha Dwivedi and other police officials visited Sri Venkateshwara Temple, Tirumala, on Wednesday and took stock of security arrangements there.

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HP DGP Sanjay Kundu said Himachal is the abode of many temples including Mata Chintpurni, Jwala Ji, Naina Devi, Chamunda Devi amongst others and the security practices at Tirupati will help the cops in ensuring better security and pilgrim management at these shrines.

“Himachal is home to several well-known temples which are frequented by several pilgrims from India and abroad every year. The team of police officers visiting Tirupati will positively gain from this experience and they will learn best practices and implement the same in the state,” he said, adding that a report on new security arrangements at religious places will also be submitted to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. Kundu said Sri Venkateshwara Temple complex at Thirumala is one of the largest and best-managed temples in the country with an estimated 2.5 crore people visiting it annually.

A first hand exposure to the arrangements for security, crowd management, use of technology at this temple, will enable Himachal Police to devise similar arrangements for the temples located in Himachal Pradesh, especially in the backdrop of COVID 19 pandemic.

The team also visited the Padmavati Amawari Temple complex to study the security arrangements and procedures adopted for crowd management, he added.

Kundu along with the HP police team visited the Police sub control room on Thursday and observed the crowd access and control mechanisms within the temple complex. The team also visited the integrated police control room where Chief Vigilance and Security officer Gopinath Jetti detailed about elaborate security arrangements (both physical and through CCTVs) at the Sri Venkateshwara Temple Complex.