The Maharashtra Government has decided to take around Rs 500 crore loan from the Shirdi Sai Baba Sansthan it is reported. After Tirumala Tirupathi Devathnam, Shirdi is the temple which is getting highest collections. Shirdi Trust is all set to give the loan of Rs 500 crore.
This is for irrigation and drinking water projects. This is an interest-free loan from Shirdi Sai Baba. A BJP leader is heading the Trust Board and he has agreed to fund the state in two phases with Rs 250 crore each.
Sai Baba has around 2000 crore deposits in various banks. Daily the temple gets around Rs 200 crore as hundi collections and various other forms. Daily around 60-70 lakh pilgrims from various parts of the country come to have the darshan of Sainanadha. During festivals, the pilgrims turn up in lakhs.
Sai Temple which started as a small pilgrim centre is now overflowing with pilgrims and some days the hundi collections are on par with the TTD. it can be easily called as the second richest temple in the country in terms of collections.
At the same time, all other Sai temples are attracting pilgrims in a big way. On Thursday the Sai temples give free lunch to the poor and needy across the country. Even rich people take the food as Prasadam here.
