Durga Temple Gears Up With Tech Upgrades, Crowd Control Steps

Vijayawada: Vijayawada city police commissioner S.V. Rajasekhar Babu held a coordination meeting with Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Devasthanam officials and senior police officers on Saturday to review preparations for the Bhavani Deeksha relinquishment rituals scheduled from December 11 to 15 at the Kanaka Durga temple.

The commissioner discussed crowd management measures, including installing foot overbridges at key points to ensure smoother merging of devotees into queue lines. He also reviewed traffic and security arrangements to prevent congestion near queue lines, bathing ghats, prasadam counters, and the temple hill during Giri Pradakshina.

Rajasekhar Babu instructed officials to provide special facilities for elderly and differently-abled devotees and emphasised coordination among departments to ensure a hassle-free experience for pilgrims.

He also reviewed the functioning of the Bhavani Deeksha mobile app, introduced last year, and directed temple IT officials to upgrade it with features such as darshan schedules, ritual details, online prasadam booking, parking information, medical points, drinking water facilities, and route maps.

The upgraded app will serve as a one-stop guide for devotees, easing congestion and improving accessibility. Over one lakh devotees from across Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring states are expected to participate in the rituals concluding with Maha Poornahuti on December 15.

DCP Krishna Kant Patil, temple EO V.K. Seena Nayak, ADC G. Ramakrishna, ACP Durga Rao, Inspector Guru Prakash, and temple engineering and IT officials attended the meeting.