TMS failure hits online services of 175 temples across State

Kakinada: Due to the failure of Temple Management System (TMS) in the State, online services of about 175 temples have been suspended. Sri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy temple in Annavaram, Talupulamma Lova temple in Tuni, Maridamma temple in Peddapuram, Sri Bala Tripura Sundari Temple in Kakinada, Kotilingeshwara temple and Markandeswara Swamy temple in Rajamahendravaram, Sri Chalukya Kumara Rama Bheemswara Swamy temple in Samalkot, Sri Kukkuteswara Swamy temple and Samsthanam in Pithapuram, Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Vadapalli, Ainavilli, Appanapalli, Kandrakota and other temples in the district are facing hardship owing to the manual work assigned to them. They are forced to adopt manual mode of issuing tickets. As a result, devotees are compelled to wait for long hours in the sweltering heat on the temple premises.

In view of heavy rush of pilgrims to Annavaram, Talupulamma Lova, Vadapalli and other temples on Monday, tickets could not be issued fast and the delay caused frustration among devotees.

The devotees faced difficulties not only in getting darshan tickets but also vratam, kalyanam, prasadam and accommodation.

In order to check malpractices that are taking place in manual mode of issuing tickets, the State government has introduced TMS system. TMS will help the government in an effective monitoring of temples and eliminate all kinds of malpractices such as selling fake darshan tickets and embezzlement of funds. All types of tickets are being issued through online system.

Owing to technical issues in the TMS system, the temple managements have resorted to manual mode, which is delaying issue of darshan and other service tickets. It is alleged that malpractices are taking place in manual mode of issuing tickets in the temples.

According to officials, online service has been suspended as salaries were not paid to the server management. But, malpractices will take lace in manual mode also, which happened in certain temples in the past, they added.

Speaking with The Hans India, Endowment Department IT Manager PVD Prasada Rao said that server was not functioning because of date overload, which will take two days to clear it. He said that because of technical problems, the server has ceased to work. Salaries for the TPS system are paid regularly without any delay, he clarified.

Annavaram Devasthanam Temple Executive Officer informed 'The Hans India' that in view of the non-functioning of server, online services were suspended.

He informed that they are issuing tickets through manual mode and carefully monitoring to prevent any malpractice. Regular online issue of tickets will be restored once server starts functioning, he added.

Endowments Department Deputy Commissioner M Vijaya Raju told 'The Hans India' that he was not aware of the suspension of online services. He said that he would inquire about the issue and help to restore online system.

Some devotees have remarked that it's surprising to learn about the Deputy Commissioner's ignorance of the happenings in the temples. They questioned whether he really performs his duties regularly. They are demanding the issue of the tickets through online system.