HYDERABAD: In order to address the sufferings of pilgrims, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams on Tuesday informed the Hyderabad High Court about its decision to launch an App to receive the complaints from the devotees visiting Tirumala with regard to problems being faced by them during pilgrimage. The job to design the proposed App was entrusted to TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), it added.
In this regard, TTD counsel Sivaraju Srinivas made this submission before a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice G Shyam Prasad dealing with a PIL filed by Parihara Sethi, represented by its founder President Dr Bharadwaja Chakrapani, seeking direction to TTD authorities to curb illegal activities of the hoteliers.
On earlier occasion, when petitioner’s counsel Chandra Mouli told the court that the hoteliers at Tirumala were charging exorbitant rates on food items, the bench directed the TTD to evolve a mechanism for receiving complaints like toll free number and so on to lodge complaints by pilgrims. It also directed the hotel managements to inform about the steps taken by them to avert the pilgrims problems.
On Tuesday, the TTD counsel submitted that the proposed App would facilitate the visiting pilgrims to lodge complaints and to know the stage of their grievance and the action taken by the authorities concerned to resolve them. Besides, the devotees can also lodge their complaints on the App against the hoteliers and stall owners for charging higher rates than displayed on the boards for food items, he added.
On the other hand, the petitioner’s counsel pointed out that the hotel managements were still selling the food items at higher rates despite the TTD’s claim that it has been taking action. The bench then asked petitioner’s counsel to send receipts to concerned authorities though WhatsApp and other channels provided.
Counterpoint
Senior counsel C Nageswara Rao, appearing for hoteliers, urged the court to withdraw their petitions and to permit them to file fresh ones since license of several stalls expired recently. The court agreed to consider it