e-ticketing at Vemulawada shrine bites the dust

Technical errors, untrained staff manning counters put PoS machines to disuse

RAJANNA, TELANGANA, 04/06/2018: Heavy pilgrims rush witnessed at Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy devasthanam in Vemulawada of Rajanna-Sircilla district on June 04, 2018. Photo: Arrangment

Hi-tech measures at the Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy devasthanam in Vemulawada here seem to have fizzed out with the recently-procured electronic point of sale (e-PoS) devices going into disuse.

In the wake of demonetisation in November 2016, temple authorities had introduced e-ticketing facility on a pilot basis to encourage digital transactions. On February 6 this year, they went ahead with a full-fledged plan, procuring 20 e-PoS machines at a cost of ₹11,000 each for all the main counters. The temple management also incurred expenses of ₹1 lakh per annum for the maintenance of those machines.

The e-ticket system is not just convenient but also leaves no scope for re-sale. In the past, tickets for various services used to be resold due to which devotees suffered much. However, a variety of reasons conspired for the facility to go kaput.

Sources said the authorities neither imparted proper training to the staff manning the machines nor educated the devotees about the importance and ease of digital transactions. Besides, technical glitches forced the staff to issue tickets manually at all the counters for main bookings, arjitha seva, prasadam, kode mokku etc.

Cash payment preferred

The devasthanam authorities said there were complaints about e-ticketing machines not functioning due to technical data errors. “We would rectify the machines and continue using them because the purpose of introducing e-ticket system is to check resale of tickets manually issued by the staff. However, a majority of devotees still prefer making cash payments instead of digital transactions,” said an official.