Mangaluru: When Kateel Sri Durgaparameshwari Temple opened its doors for the devotees after lockdown, it became the first temple in the state to start e-ticket for the darshan.
Kateel is the first temple to start this facility in Karnataka which is all set to help in maintaining social distancing. Though it has been done on the lines of Tirupathi, at Kateel the e-ticket is completely free.
Though a new concept, and people are yet to get acquainted to it, the service seems to be getting good response. On the first day itself 293 people had booked e-ticket.
Kateel Sri Durgaparameshwari Temple is one of the famous temples of the country and stands fourth in revenue among the endowment temples in the state.
Every day thousands of people, from the region and outsiders offer prayers at the temple. At a time when COVID is haunting the society, there is a need for an arrangement to allow devotees to have the Darshan of the deity but ensuring social distancing at the limited areas in the temple situated in the small island of River Nandini. It was at this juncture, the temple administration came up with the proposal of starting the e-ticket for darshan and allow 60 devotees in one slot of 15 minutes.
The darshan starts at 7.30 am and continues till 7.30 pm. Details like Name, email id, mobile number, ID card number (PAN or Adhar or Driving license) have to be entered to get ticket. Once confirmed the devotee can go to the temple at the scheduled date and time and have the darshan there.
All the other arrangements like marking the use of sanitizers would be done in the temple.
As per the government directions, elderly people and children are not supposed to go to temples. As the youths are IT literate, it will not be difficult for the people to book e-ticket for darshan.
"This the first time such service is started in Karnataka and the devotee need not pay anything for this. We are sure that the service will help the temple, as well as the devotees," Kateel temple priest SriHarinarayanadasa Asranna, told Deccan Chronicle.
Though almost all the endowment temples had opened on June 8, the Kateel temple administration had not opened the temple that day as it had decided to open only after taking all the necessary measures. Now with all the arrangements being done, the temple opened its doors for devotees on June 14.
Separate arrangements have been done for the local residents for Darshan in the morning. First preference is given to those who book through e-ticket for darshan. The e-ticket for darshan would be made strict and mandatory in the future days when the number of devotees increase.
