No more queues at Guruvayur Temple! Enjoy darshan instantly with ‘Face App’

Guruvayur: The Guruvayur Temple is set to introduce a major change in its darshan system, aiming to eliminate the long hours devotees currently spend waiting in queues. The new arrangement will rely on a digital platform called the ‘Face App’, which will manage darshan through facial recognition.

Crowd control remains a persistent challenge at the temple, where an uncontrollable surge of devotees overwhelmed security measures as recently as New Year's day this year. 

Under the system, devotees will receive a token generated after their face is scanned at a Face App counter. A special coordination meeting to review the new arrangement was held on Friday, chaired by Devaswom Administrator O B Arun Kumar, and attended by representatives from the police, Guruvayur Municipality, and various Devaswom departments. The system was demonstrated during the meeting and feedback was invited.

A total of 12 token counters will be set up at different points near the temple entrance to prevent crowding. Each devotee will receive a photo-embedded token showing the scheduled time for darshan. The existing queuing area will be re-organised into multiple sections, with each compartment accommodating a fixed range of token numbers—such as 1–200, 200–400 and so on.

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Screens installed in each compartment will display the current token numbers being called. Devotees need to enter their assigned section only when their number appears, allowing them to wait comfortably outside until then.

This arrangement is intended as a temporary measure until the proposed Guruvayur Devaswom queue complex is completed. The new system is expected to be implemented after the conclusion of the Guruvayur festival. The Devaswom Managing Committee had earlier decided to invite expressions of interest for rolling out the Face App-based system.