Close to 50 stalls and around 12 pavilions set up at Gandhi Maidan for the 103rd Bihar Divas celebrations are being closely monitored by security personnel intent on avoiding any tragedy at the event.

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, metal detector gates and ample police officers, including personnel in plainclothes, are in place to ensure the grand event goes off without any hitch. Officers said lessons from last year's Dussehra stampede (that killed 33 people) prompted the administration to make adequate security arrangements.

To keep an eye on possible trouble mongers, the district administration has installed 57 CCTV cameras near the stage and the pavilions of the different departments, at the food court (Vyanjan Mela) and the 13 entrance gates around the ground. This is the first time CCTV cameras have been installed at Gandhi Maidan for an event on the scale of Bihar Divas.

Superintendent of police (central) Chandan Kumar Kushwaha said: 'A total of 57 CCTV cameras have been installed at different locations of the ground. The footage is being monitored from four control rooms on the premises where officers are working round the clock. After the Dussehra tragedy last year, the administration was careful to ensure that proper security arrangements were in place and there were no repeats like the stampede.'

Sources said three of the control rooms have been set up near the stage and one is at the food court.

To keep tabs on criminals, banners and posters have also been put up with the message, 'You are under the supervision of CCTV cameras.'

Apart from the CCTV cameras, metal detectors have also been installed at all the entrance gates as well as at the entry points to the staging area and the food court. In previous years, too, metal detector gates were set up but only at the VIP entrance.

SP Kushwaha said: 'Earlier , metal detectors were installed at only the VIP entrance gates but this time, they have been set up at all the important gates. There are a total of 13 entry gates around the ground.'

Around 2,000 security personnel, including women officers, have been deployed around the ground - near the stage and the food court. Officers in plainclothes have also been deployed at the venue.

The visitors are happy with the security arrangements put in place for the grand three-day celebrations.

Ratna Priya, a Magadh Mahila College student spotted at the food court, said: 'We are happy with the security arrangements, as cops can be seen at various points around the Maidan. Arrangements are good at Vyanjan Mela too - there is place to sit and enjoy at each of the stalls.'

The three-day Bihar Divas function recorded a footfall of 1.5 lakh and odd people on Sunday, the first day. Performances by Shashi Suman (who composed Ziddi Dil from Mary Kom) and Salim-Sulaiman, the music director duo, on Tuesday are expected to take the footfall higher.

That's no cause for worry because the administration has 10 videographers on the job to record all events at Gandhi Maidan.

One of the persons responsible for the videography said on Monday: 'We have been assigned duty to record all events at Gandhi Maidan from morning to late night till the function concludes.'