Soon, official website to sell darshan tickets of 11 Andhra temples
VIJAYAWADA: To protect devotees from being cheated by fake websites, the Endowments Department has decided to launch a website that will allow bookings of not only darshan tickets, but also other services at 11 major temples in the State. If things go as per the plan, the website will be up and running before Ugadi.
The shrines which have been roped in for the online service include Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada, Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple in Dwaraka Tirumala, Sri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy temple in Annavaram, Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Simhachalam, Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy temple in Srisailam and Sri Kalahasti temple. The website will be managed under the State government’s Temple Monitoring System (TMS).
The move comes after Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam (SDMSD) Executive officer (EO) MV Suresh Babu lodged a complaint with Vijayawada city police that four websites were cheating the public by selling darshanam tickets online.
“At present, we are taking inputs from all temple officials pertaining to the services being offered by them and other tariff details to incorporate them in the website. The endowments commissioner is personally monitoring the website design,” said Suresh Babu.
He added that a meeting would be convened with temple EOs on January 8 to discuss further proceedings. “The primary aim behind creating a new and consolidated website is to put an end to frauds. With no verified platform available, devotees are often falling prey to the cyber fraudsters,” the EO said.