QR codes to smart queues: Sabarimala set for digital makeover

KOCHI: Imagine receiving a message on your phone asking you to delay your visit to Sabarimala by a few hours because the hill shrine is already crowded. Or walking up to a counter, scanning a QR code, and collecting ‘aravana’ without waiting in a serpentine queue. The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) is on a mission to turn this into reality.

A high-powered Project Management Unit (PMU), headed by retired IAS officer Dr Santhosh Babu, has begun work on what is being described as the biggest digital transformation in the history of the TDB, which manages around 1,250 temples besides schools, colleges, cultural institutions, and commercial ventures.