CHENNAI: Devotees visiting major temples in the city, including Vadapalani Andavar Temple, Parthasarathy Swamy Temple in Triplicane and Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore, are facing difficulties as some mobile phone deposit centres do not have digital payment facilities such as Gpay or PhonePe.
As mobile phones are not permitted inside these temples, devotees are required to deposit their phones at designated deposit centres located within the temple premises.
During special occasions, weekends and peak hours, the deposit centres witness a large number of devotees, resulting in long queues to deposit and collect the phones after darshan. Devotees lamented this added to the time required to complete their temple visit.
A devotee, Sridhar, said, “There is generally no problem at the mobile phone deposit centres on normal days. However, during special occasions and weekends, when the crowd increases, devotees have to wait for a long time both to deposit and collect their phones. As a result, it takes additional time to enter the temple and have darshan.”
Another devotee, Saravanan, said, “The centres at Parthasarathy Swamy Temple have been arranged well. Paying Rs 5 as deposit charge is a problem, as the centres do not have change. Since there is no digital payment facilities like Gpay and PhonePe, some have to ask others nearby for change. There is also no notice board informing us that digital payment facilities are unavailable.”
Concurring with him was Usha, another devotee, who piped in: “At Vadapalani Temple, we have to wait in long queues to deposit our phones. It also takes considerable time to collect them after darshan. Additional counters will help speed up the process of depositing and collecting mobile phones.”
A temple official told DT Next that around 350 mobile phone lockers were available at Vadapalani Andavar Temple. “Two counters are functioning for depositing phones and two for collecting them. Arrangements are underway to set up two more counters,” he added.
At Kapaleeswarar Temple, around 300 mobile phone lockers are available. Three are functioning for depositing phones and two for collecting them. Parthasarathy Swamy Temple has 280 mobile phone lockers, with four counters each for depositing and collecting mobile phones.
Officials said that the mobile phone deposit centres began functioning from September 1 and digital payment facilities such as GPay have not yet been introduced. “A QR code-based payment facility will be introduced shortly,” he said. they added.