Tirupati, Feb 5 (PTI) The Integrated Command Control Center at Tirumala, set up by TTD enabled improved pilgrim comfort, enhanced safety and created India’s ‘first’ AI-powered temple governance reference model, the temple body said.
Realised in 16 days from the day it was envisioned, the Integrated Command Control Center (ICCC) represents a landmark transformation in temple governance using AI, real-time analytics and operational intelligence, TTD said in a press release issued on Thursday.
The concept originated during a Silicon Valley interaction involving Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh on smart cities and integrated command centres, said the release.
Considering the challenges involved in managing a living mega ecosystem such as the TTD, its executive officer Venkaiah Chowdary provided the comprehensive operational, cultural and process level knowledge of Tirumala.
This ensured that AI models respected agama traditions and ritualistic sanctity, The ICCC’s AI-based headcount and crowd-density estimation were enabled in real time, including the activation of centralised dashboards, alerts, and control-room operations.
“It has a multi variety of features which will help the administration in streamlining the entire pilgrim experience and in removing the hurdles faced by pilgrims in having a smooth darshan. The experience of the last three months has helped us reduce the waiting time of pilgrims in the queue lines,” said Chowdary.
With the participation of NRI donors from the US, India, and Singapore as co-creators of the governance platform, the ICCC initiative reflects a new model of social value investing, combining technology, philanthropy, and public good, the release said.
The ICCC’s scope includes darshan management with real-time throughput visibility and slot optimisation, queue management with waiting time prediction and balancing and crowd management using density heatmaps and surge alerts.
Likewise, accommodation management with live availability and utilisation insights, laddu production, inventory and distribution visibility and traffic and pedestrian movement management, among others.
Equipped with a 10-metre video wall, the ICCC receives a unified real-time visual command view of temple operations and complies with STQC (Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification) and MEITY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) recommendations.
The recent Brahmotsavams served as a pilot phase to validate the ICCC dashboards and alert thresholds while the Vaikunta Ekadasi marked its full-scale validation with continuous data-driven darshan operations, said the press release.
Consequently, the temple body emphasised that additional darshan hours were enabled without congestion, waiting times were significantly reduced and camera-based headcount encompassed children below token age for the first time.
“Whatever the cameras have been integrated to the AI-enabled Integrated Command Centre… we can trace out any person who has been lost in touch with the pilgrims,” said Murali Krishna, chief vigilance and security officer (CVSO), TTD.
Delivering actionable intelligence, it enabled hourly real time decision making instead of post event reviews, shifted operations from reactive management to predictive governance and provided evidence-based policy input to temple administrators, along with the creation of SoPs for future mega events and festivals.
Creating India’s ‘first’ AI-enabled temple governance reference model, TTD’s ICCC achieved outcomes such as increased darshan throughput without additional infrastructure stress, improved pilgrim comfort and experience through reduced waiting times, the release said.
“This completely helps the government’s standpoint. It helps the operation and day-to-day effectiveness, including darshan management, security management, and the laddu distribution process. It also provides real-time process awareness, especially in identifying pilgrim behaviour, how they are being treated, and the security aspect,” said Jayaprasad Vejendla, Founder, Forsys Inc.
Similarly, it achieved enhanced safety, vigilance and situational awareness and established transparent data-backed operational decisions, among other outcomes.
Following these accomplishments, the TTD ICCC now serves as a national reference architecture for sacred institution governance, which can be extended to other major temples and pilgrimage centres across India.
Future phases include deeper predictive AI models and pilgrim feedback integration even as the TTD ICCC stands as a global case study in governance at ‘sacred scale’, the press release added. PTI STH ADB
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