TTD automates baggage management system at temple

Tirumala: In yet another pro-devotee initiative, TTD has decided to automate and digitalise its Luggage Management System. With this move, the temple board aims to create a more pilgrim-friendly environment for the multitude of devotees visiting Tirumala from across the country and overseas.

Briefing the same to the media at Annamaiah Bhavan in Tirumala, along with the CV&SO of TTD Narasimha Kishore on Tuesday, TTD EO AV Dharma Reddy said the new system, named Balaji Baggage Management System (BBMS), has been developed for easy deposit and faster retrieval of luggage and mobile phones of devotees coming for Srivari Darshan.

The EO said some devotees hide mobile phones in their pockets while going for darshan to avoid the delay in depositing them. But now the new system has addressed the problem with more finesse and transparency.

Elaborating further, the EO said in the new system the Darshan tickets will be scanned and automatically saved along with details of their luggage and mobile phones, and for those without Darshan tickets their goods are scanned and a RFID code is generated with a QR code receipt. Similarly, for mobile deposits, devotees’ Aadhaar details are gathered along with Srivari Darshan tickets and a QR code and receipt are given.

Since the luggage vehicles have a GPS link, the devotees get an SMS at the time of arrival of their luggage. When the receipts are scanned at the display kiosks in front of the luggage counter, the luggage availability is indicated immediately at the luggage centres with a colour coding system and they are loaded on trolleys and sent to counters.

The new system is under operation for a month and on a day about 60,000 mobiles and 40,000 items of baggage are deposited and delivered in a hassle-free manner through 44 counters in 16 centres.

TTD EO said special deposit centres were installed at 300 Darshan ticket counters, Divya Darshan, Sarva Darshan, Supatham, Srivari Mettu, and Alipiri checkpoints. While TTD has installed 20 counters at common luggage centres, six counters at GNC and two at TBC are for retrieval purposes.

TTD CVSO Narasimha Kishore said the entire system was commissioned with the support of donors under the guidance of TTD EO. He said, donor Sri Venugopal V Kota of Bengaluru had donated Rs 1 crore for software, Vedanta, Somasekhar, CEO of Track-It, Hyderabad has given Rs 17 lakhs to develop the software application and Sri Jose Charles Martin, MD of M&C Property Development Private Limited from Chennai donated Rs 2 crore towards hardware.

After the media interaction, CVSO Narasimha Kishore inspected the luggage deposit centre at GNC and interacted with devotees on the process to understand the location of their luggage after scanning their luggage receipts in the kiosk.