Hyderabad, Feb 1 : A temporary Dial-112 emergency response call centre of Telangana Police handled over 500 emergency calls during 'Sammakka Saralamma Jatara' at Medaram in Mulugu district.

The temporary facility operated from January 18 to 31 to ensure a swift emergency response and enhanced public safety during the Jatara, the largest tribal festival in Asia.

Telangana Integrated Command Control Centre (TGICCC) said on Sunday that the temporary facility was equipped with two dispatch desks and functioned round-the-clock in four shifts, ensuring uninterrupted emergency response services.

All emergency calls related to Medaram Jatara were routed to this dedicated desk for faster handling and focused coordination.

The state police last year launched a new unified emergency number 112 to help people reach the police, the Fire Department, the ambulance, disaster relief and women and child safety.

The 112-call centre operated from the Telangana Integrated Command and Control Centre Building at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad.

At Medaram, the temporary Dial-112 centre handled over 500 emergency calls. Each incident was promptly registered and dispatched to the nearest response vehicle.

Field coordination and communication were effectively managed through VHF wireless systems, enabling real-time updates between the control unit and ground personnel.

The dispatch unit also worked in close coordination with the drone surveillance teams, significantly improving situational awareness and supporting faster decision-making in crowd management and emergency response.

The successful functioning of the temporary DIAL-112 unit played a crucial role in maintaining public safety and providing immediate assistance to the large number of devotees attending the Medaram Jatara, said the TGICCC director.

While devotees have been thronging Medaram for the last two weeks, the main celebrations were held from January 28 to 31.

Lakhs of devotees from across Telangana and other parts of the country attended the event, considered as one of the largest tribal religious congregations in the world.

Rooted in deep faith and age-old traditions, the event concluded in a smooth and peaceful manner on Saturday.

Devotees offered turmeric, vermilion, jaggery, rice, and cloth to the tribal deities Sammakka and Saralamma as part of their sacred vows.

Officials said systematic queue management and crowd regulation ensured smooth movement of devotees across the Jatara premises.

Anticipating heavy footfall, the state government, district administration, and police have made elaborate arrangements for traffic regulation, queue supervision, and crowd safety mechanisms.

The priests took back the deities to the forests on Saturday, bringing a curtain on the biennial 'Jatara'.

The state government has made elaborate arrangements for the 'Jatara'. It spent Rs 251 crore for the development of Medaram and creating permanent infrastructure for Jatara.

Over 42,000 officers and employees from 21 departments were deployed to provide all amenities to the devotees. About 2,000 Adivasi volunteers also assisted the devotees.

As many as 13,000 police personnel have been deployed for the smooth conduct of the biennial event. The police used an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based drone policing system for effective monitoring of the congregation.

Over 200 expert swimmers were deployed at the 'Jampanna Vagu' stream to prevent any untoward incident during the holy dip taken by devotees.

/IANS