Tirumala , June 12 :

Thousands of pilgrims who come to Tirumala every day to have darshan of Lord Ventakeshwara are having a harrowing time in finding rented rooms and cottages on the hills although there are nearly 6,000 rooms to cater to the needs of the middle classes and the rich.

The rates of different type of rooms were also fixed accordingly.

In order to eliminate the role of middlemen in the allotment of rooms, the officials of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) have setup an ultra modern software by the use of which rooms are allotted to the devotees who turn up in large numbers.

However, the TTD did not setup adequate number of computers and servers to deal with the heavy influx of devotees. With the result, it was the devotees who were being put to hardships ultimately.

Whenever there is a technical snag, the computers slow down and the pilgrims have to wait in the queues for hours together without food or water.

Most of the pilgrims stand in the queues at the general wing of the Central Reception Office for rented rooms.

Similarly, it has become a common practice for those with recommendation letters from VIPS like Ministers and MLAs and senior bureaucrats to go the Travelers Bungalow counters and MBC 34 for allotment of rooms.

For the VVIPS and the super rich, rooms are allotted in the Padmavathi guest house with all the facilities.

Recently, the vigilance squad caught some people who took the rented rooms and in turn allotting them on their own at a higher price to other pilgrims.

With this, the TTD administration decided to allot rooms by using the biometric method of taking the finger prints and photos of the devotees.

In this connection, a software was also developed by the use of which those that took the room should only vacate it.

Thus, the software prevents them from carrying on with side business.

Similarly, the TTD has come out with software by which a person, who takes a rented room, will not get it again on his name for another 15 days.

However, the insufficient number of computers and servers has put a spanner in their works.

With the result, hacking has become a common practice, and the rooms are not being allotted in time. When the servers are down, allotment of a single room is taking nearly 30 minutes.

Devotees who come from different parts of the state lamented that they were waiting for hours for a room.

They demanded the introduction of the token system to improve the services.