Kochi: Soon, the pilgrims planning to visit the hill shrine of Sabarimala can book services like offerings and virtual queue at the click of a mouse. The Travancore Devaswom Board has entrusted Thiruvananthapuram-based Centre for the Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) to develop a website incorporating all available services exclusively for Sabarimala as part of a modernisation drive covering its administrative offices and main temples.
“The new website can be accessed by pilgrims in six languages – Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English. The same will be served as a gateway for all the services, including offerings, advance booking of rooms and their availability position and virtual queue among others. We were asked to complete the work on a war-footing before the commencement of the pilgrimage season,” said S.B. Biju, head, Web Services and Streaming Services. The contract was awarded to C-DIT for Rs 5.5 lakh and is aimed at pilgrims, especially those from neighbouring states.
“All minute information, including that of queue position and timing of temple opening and closing during the pilgrimage season, will be intimated through the website,” a senior Devaswom Board official said. “We’ll also redesign the Devaswom Board website incorporating additional services which can be accessed in Malayalam and English,” Mr Baiju said. In the initial phase, the computerisation drive will cover Devaswom Board headquarters and 10 administrative officer-level temples, including that at Haripad and Vaikom, besides Sabarimala. “KELTRON has been awarded the contract for Rs 9.73 crore following a bidding process,” the official said.
