Nashik: The fully digitised time-bound darshan system introduced from January 1 this year at the Shirdi temple is proving beneficial to thousands of devotees visiting the shrine on a daily basis. According to trustees and officials, this system has ended the agent culture which had thrived rampantly on the temple premises."Earlier, there were unofficial agents around the temple premises who used to dupe devotees by promising early darshan and extort money from them. But since the introduction of the biometric time-bound darshan system, devotees are free from such illegal agents," said trustee Sachin Tambe.The time-bound darshan facility was introduced to the temple premises from January 1. It is based on biometric system. Now, there is no need for the devotees to wait in long queues. Instead, they get a specific time slot allotted. "After getting time slot card from the temple, devotees could plan their visit accordingly. They get entry into the temple after the biometric check," said Tambe.This new system is implemented on the lines of Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh. The security system company, Trilok India, that is handling the similar system for Tirupati is also appointed as nodal agency by Shirdi temple management.A total 18 counters have been started in temple, old Prasadalaya, Residential Complexes, and at temple headquarters to serve the devotees with time-bound darshan passes. On Thursday, trust and local police had a meeting and decided to start more counters at bus station, Sai Nagar Railway Station and other crowded locations to benefit the devotees.Deputy superintendent of police Dr Sagar Patil said the police will act tough on agents who mislead the devotees. "These agents not only ask for money, but also give wrong information to the devotees visiting from distant places. Police will form a special squad to keep a check on these agents as they will now search other ways for duping the devotees," he said.Shirdi is all set to host grand celebrations later this year to mark the death centenary (Samadhi Shatabdi) of Sai Baba. For this, the administration and trust are gearing up to provide better facilities to the devotees.Meanwhile, a devotee from Italy, Shalini Dolarose, offered a 750 gm gold crown to the temple — costing around Rs 23 lakh. This is for the third time in 2017 that a devotee has donated a golden crown to the temple.

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