Katra, December 27: Adding another technology driven initiative for providing an optimal pilgrimage experience to the devotees, CEO Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Shri Anshul Garg today launched accommodation management system at Enquiry & Reservation Counter at Katra for the benefit of devotees visiting the Holy Shrine as per directions of the Chairman, SMVDSB (Hon’ble Lt. Governor, JK-UT) which shall be available at all Reservation Counters of SMVDSB.
With the robust accommodation management system in place, the check-ins and check out of the pilgrims would become easier and less time consuming. Besides, the financial transactions pertaining to payments on account of reservations would be secured. In addition, it will also increase the room allotment efficiency of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, thus benefiting more number of pilgrims.
Recently, Chairman, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board inaugurated an online booking facility for the passenger ropeway from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan to the Bhairon Ji Temple for the convenience of the visiting pilgrims. The facility has been widely appreciated by the pilgrims and based on the warm response, the online quota has been increased to 3,000 tickets per day from January-2024 onwards.
Noteworthy that the Shrine Board has made concerted efforts for adoption of a number of emerging technologies and response mechanisms for state-of-the-art facilities. These include a live darshan facility of “Holy Pindies” for the benefit of devotees across the world, particularly those who are not able to visit the Holy Shrine physically. This initiative has been taken by the Shrine Board with the view to maximize the use of available technology and digitization for the larger facilitation of devotees.
In addition, with an aim to provide authentic information to pilgrims, a Bilingual Interactive Chatbot “Shakti” has been developed for the official website augmenting the 24*7 toll-free helpline equipped with IVRS for addressing queries and grievances received from pilgrims. Pertinent to mention that over 20,000 pilgrims are being facilitated every month by the Call Centre. This facility has been providing all the relevant information on services/facilities provided by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board to pilgrims at the click-of-a-button.
On similar lines Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has integrated digital payments in the various sale units of the Board to minimize the cash transactions by installation of Self- Serve Kiosk machines, QR codes, EDC machines, UPI payments and also on-boarding to popular digital platforms for donations and sale of Prasad. The digitalization of the front-end services of Helicopter, Battery Car bookings, RFID yatra access cards and their real time tracking with the dedicated RF Network and over 700 CCTV cameras by Shrine Board has facilitated the pilgrims and also improved administrative efficiencies through digital records and real time reporting.
