Working in true corporate style, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) management is relying more on feedback from people to improve its functional systems.
The TTD is a mammoth and complexly-networked organisation, which has almost all the departments in a governmental setup, viz., production (laddus), engineering (dams and roads), water supply, human resources, transport, procurement and marketing, finance and accounting, public relations, information technology, forest and gardens, educational institutions and hospitals, revenue and general administration etc.
Discontent, be it among pilgrims or employees or even local residents, is often due to the gap between expectation and actual performance.
It is to plug this gap that the TTD has taken up a massive exercise to gather public feedback. D. Sambasiva Rao, who completed one year in office as the Executive Officer, told The Hindu on Thursday “keeping an ear to the ground helps me get to the roots of the problem.”.
Apart from the traditional ‘tapal’ channel (post and courier), the TTD receives feedback in the form of complaints through email at eottdtpt@gmail.com and over its call centre (0877-2233333/2277777). These apart, the ‘May I help you’ counters at Tirumala and Tirupati and the toll free number 1800-425-4141 are the other points where the public grievances are recorded.
‘Srivari Sevaks’
The TTD has recently engaged the services of volunteers registered as ‘Srivari Sevaks’with the TTD’s Public Relations Department. Armed with a questionnaire, the group of 10-20 volunteers randomly pick 1,000 pilgrims waiting in the darshan queue lines, laddu counter, tonsuring centre, trekking route or even those staying in the cottages and seek their experience.
Their satisfaction level is noted from ‘excellent to poor’ and conveyed to Dr. Rao, who suggests steps for improvement to the departmental heads.
“The system really works and has helped us go into the root of many problems,” Dr. Rao said.
