The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
From June, use smart cards to bypass queues at Kashi Vishwanath
COME JUNE, devotees who throng Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi every day will not have to wait in queues for hours to get in.
The reason: One can now get a smart card by paying Rs 3,100 for one year and enter the temple without waiting in queue.
While around 1,000 residents of Varanasi visit the temple every day, the facility will also be open to those outside the city.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple chief executive officer Shyam Narayan Tripathi said the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir Nyas Parishad has decided to issue smart cards for the convenience of devotees who visit the temple every day.
“Because of the long queues of pilgrims, daily visitors too have to wait a long time. Daily visitors had been requesting the temple administration to make some arrangement, such as smart cards, which will help them enter the temple directly without waiting in queue. This will save their time,” Tripathi said.
“Smart card holders will only have to go through frisking... Interested devotees could submit applications on a proforma with identity proof by May 30 and they will be issued the smart card in June first week,” he added.
“An annual fee of Rs 3,100 has been fixed. Earlier, the temple administration used to issue free passes for daily visitors. But this resulted in a large number of pass holders and the same used to be misused,” said Tripathi.
On an ordinary day, around 10,000 devotees visit the temple but during festive seasons and auspicious days, the number of visitors surges to over 1 lakh.
At present, only VIPS are exempted from queues and can directly enter the temple.