THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) will launch online vazhipadu (offering) booking facility for 27 major temples under its fold, including the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple.
The experimental launch of the project during the Sabarimala mandalam-makaravilakku season was a success. Officials said the 10 pooja bookings offered on the temple website had received hundreds of bookings from within the country and abroad.
Travancore Devaswom Board president Prayar Gopalakrishnan said the initiative was part of the total computerisation of temples and board offices to ensure better service delivery and accountability.
“The system will be of immense help to devotees from other states and abroad. They can also check the availability of ‘vazhipadu’ in much demand like the padipooja at Sabarimala,” he said. The board plans to launch an exclusive portal and sub-domains of temples included in the project. Some of the temples are Ettumanoor Mahadeva temple, Vaikom Mahadeva temple, Sreekandeswaram Mahadeva temple, OTC Hanuman temple, Sreekandeswaram temple, Chettikulangara Devi temple, Malayalappuzha Devi temple and Valliyamkavu Devi temple.
Over-the-counter ticket sales in these temples will be computerised and synchronised with the online system, officials said. The counters will also offer the facility to book ‘vazhipadu’ of other temples included in the project.
The Travancore Devaswom Board aims to implement online systems in all the 1,250 temples under its fold in a phased manner.