Kochi: The Kerala Police will soon launch four facilitation centres at different areas en-route to Sabarimala to help maximum pilgrims avail the ‘virtual Q’ facility that would act as an automatic crowd control tool.
“We’re set to open the centres at Kumily, Erumeli, Pathanamthitta KSRTC bus stand and Vadasserikkara in a couple of days to help technologically unsavvy pilgrims besides those who failed to avail the facility in advance,” said a senior police officer.
Under the system, devotees can register themselves on the online portal ‘www.sabarimalaonline.org’ and book slots on the separate queue maintained by the Kerala Police. This helps devotees reach Sannidhanam without waiting in long queues. The system generates fixed number of coupons for every hour, thereby evenly spreading the pilgrim rush. The cops can also know in advance about the possible crowd at a given time.
“From this season, devotees who avail the facility can also get printed documents from the Pamba Ganapathy temple which will avoid confusion over members of a particular pilgrim group and the like,” the officer said.
Already 10 lakh bookings were made under the virtual Q system so far. While the demand was less when the temple opened for the two month long Mandalam-Makaravilakku season on November 17, the number of pilgrims availing the facility has seen a substantial increase thereafter.
Meanwhile, more areas in Sabarimala have been put under CCTV surveillance as part of security tightening. “A total of 136 modern CCTV cameras that can function in 360 degree angle have been set up in the region. Dedicated personnel have been deployed in control rooms at Pamba and Sannidhanam,” the officer said.
