Shirdi temple gets record Rs 35 cr donations in 2006 
The Saibaba temple at Shirdi, the second richest in the country after Tirupati, received donations amounting to Rs 35.25 crore in 2006. 

Baba bhakt, Chennai-based entrepreneur and former NASSCOM chief K V Ramani, 56, has offered to donate up to Rs 60 crore from his private purse to build a complex in Shirdi for accommodating 16,000 devotees. He wants the Shri Sai Sansthan, Shirdi, to give him land for the project.

The Sansthan currently has a complex that can house 4,000 people (who are charged only a nominal amount for their stay), but it is proving utterly inadequate in view of the rush to Shirdi, especially during festival season and the year-end. Shirdi has an estimated seven lakh visitors every day at this time of the year.

Here is good news for Saibaba devotees. The Saibaba temple at Shirdi will remain open throughout on December 31. More than 10 lakh devotees are expected to visit the temple on the New Year Eve. This provides devotees a rare opportunity to have darshan on the New Year dawn as well. But January 1 is a holiday as Bakri Eid falls on that day. 

Usually, the temple remains open both day and night only on Gurupoornima and Ramnavmi. 

“Considering the flow of devotees and the auspiciousness of the occasion, the working committee of Shirdi Sansthan decided to keep the temple open whole night,” said Shirdi Sansthan chairman and MLA Jayant Sasane.

The Shirdi temple remains open for Kakad Aarti at 4.30 am and close at 10 after Shejarati. Talking to DNA, he said out of 365 days, 150 days are houseful, including the weekends, and festivals like Diwali and Dussera.

“This is a step taken in favour of devotees who want to seek blessings of Saibaba and begin the new year. Last year, some devotees had to stand in a queue for 10 hours,” he added.

The Shirdi Sansthan can accommodate 10,000 devotees. But the authorities have made alternative arrangements as they have booked open plots, schools and industrial units for devotees,” said Sasane. 

The annual turnover of the temple is more than Rs100 crore and hence the richest temple in the state
 
 

'Shirdi' Press Meet 
[Thursday, December 21, 2006] 
'Shirdi' directed by Bipin and produced by G Suresh on the banner of Sri Shirdi Sai Creations, with Krishna, who had acted in over 350 films and created a chapter of his own in the history of Telugu film industry, in an important role, with Suman and Saikiran as heroes and Manasa and B Lalitha as heroines had completed its shooting recently and post-production works are in progress. 

To mark the occasion, the director and producer organised a press briefing. 

Speaking to the film journalists, Krishna says, 'I am playing the role of a Sai Baba devotee. My character is the one which denotes that those who keep their belief in Baba would not face any harm.' 

Producer G Suresh says, 'We have completed the shooting part. Basically I am a devotee of Sai Baba. I am making the film in five languages simultaneously. We are planning to release the film either in the last week of January or in the first week of February.' 

Several film journalists were felicitated with shawls on the occasion.

 

Sai Baba said these lines to a very learned man and today exactly the same situation has come up. Baba's Pilgrim can 
make him reside on throne of Diamonds, keep aside gold and silver. Then why would not they reside him and why wouldn't he himself reside.

Today sai trusts annual income is Rs 200 Crore. Now how they use it and how they spend it, all the decisions 
depends upon members of trust. If trust has planned to convert the throne of saibaba into gold, that’s completely fair
no other committee or individual except trust should have any say on it. The people who are against this should first
do a reality check and see how much are they themselves contributing to society.

Whole media is saying that saibaba was a simple-man why would he need a throne made-up of gold. Saibaba doesn't 
need throne made out of gold, it is his pilgrims who need this throne. Everyone who's against this should first 
answer is only saibaba trust left responsible for all the pain that is there in world?

Saibaba’s trust is already helping needy people all over world. But is it only Saibaba trust, which is supposed to solve everyone's 
problem with its funds?  If that is what is the case then what is the role of our government? 

I request all politicians and government please do not play with feelings of saibaba's pilgrims and i would like to request members of sai baba's trust to
put diamonds worth of 21 crore with this gold of 22 crore on sai baba's throne.

Today Trust has decided that it wont convert the throne of silver into gold.This is absolutely wrong decision because the feelings of pilgrims are involved.
I request all the pilgrims of sai baba to exert pressure on trust and to send money from open heart for this noble cause.

For  Donation 
Shri Sai baba Sansthan Trust, (Shirdi)
Rajesh Chopra
LiveIndia.com

golden throne for sai...why NOT?? 
it was very sad to hear that the sansthan at shirdi has called off its plans to set up a golden throne for Shirdi Saibaba. why? i totally disagree with some of the people's views that that amount (22 crores) can be used for some other things like education, social work etc., my question is why only this money? there are crores and crores of money going wastse in many other places, there is lot of corruption going around in the country, why dont u tap that money for education and social work. why cast an eye on sai's money? Yes, it is true that sai was very simple and never wanted any kind of publicity, nor he never asked/cared for any kind of luxuries. But, it is not Sai who is asking. If that is the case, why have a silver throne, why have a throne at all? ha? This is such a ridicule. Today, Sai's devotees worldwide can afford to put saibaba in a platinum throne (forget gold) or maybe anything costlier than that. It is just a form of love that devotees want to show. For Sai who is constantly helping his beloved devotees day and night, a golden throne is nothing. The golden throne would have added beauty, grace and instilled more confidence to devotees. Everybody asks Sai for whatever they want in life, but when it comes to Sai, a subset of the same devotees think that it is not needed. What a shame.
The news was such an upset and every time i think about this, it is such a pain
 

SURAT: The mysterious appearance of an image resembling Sai Baba on the condemned Raman Chambers at Rangoonwala Ni Sheri in Begumpura area on Thursday night could turn out to be quite an inauspicious event for Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) authorities. 
On Friday, devotees had even hung a garland on the image. In the last seven days, civic authorities had won the confidence of around 32 families in this residential apartment, along with the building association, to agree on terms of self demolition after structural engineers termed the cracks in at least three columns of the building dangerous after the floods. 
The SMC authorities claim that compensation worked out by the residents was not more than Rs 5 lakh after sale of rubble, steel and wooden door frames. 
This amount was to be distributed amongst 32 families. But with Sai Baba making a mysterious appearance on the seventh floor of the tower, officials have now warned that if the residents fail to come to a decision pertaining to the demolition of the building, the SMC will be forced to raze the building. 
Since Thursday night, the residents of Rangoonwala Ni Sheri have been discussing the feasibility of cutting off the portion of the building wall which has the image on it. 
However, town development officer (TDO) Ketan Patel says this is not feasible. Patel adds, "Emotional issues have no place in our work.
We will wait for two more days after which we will go ahead with the demolition." Meanwhile, Saturdaymorning saw a constant stream of people visiting the spot, which had attracted over 8,000 people by Thursday midnight
 

Old throne

New throne

Gold throne worth Rs 22 cr for Shirdi Sai
18 Aug, 2006 
MUMBAI: The Saibaba Sansthan Trust has decided to buy a gold throne weighing 325 kg for the Shirdi saint at a cost of Rs 22 crore despite the fact that the hugely popular baba was the epitome of simplicity.
An Indian temple in Maharashtra is to build a solid gold throne for holy man Sai Baba, whose statue is housed there. 
About 251kg (553lb) of gold will be needed, at an estimated cost of nearly $4.8m (220,000,000 rupees,£2.5bn).
Nearly 40,000 devotees a day visit the temple in the small town of Shirdi, about 300km (186 miles) away from the state's financial capital, Mumbai.
The chairman of the temple trust said many devotees wanted the current silver throne replaced with a gold one. 
The throne should be completed within six months, Jayant Sasane said. 
Generous donations 
During holidays and on auspicious occasions, the number of visitors often passes 100,000, trust officials said.
"They would often tell us that the throne of Sai Baba which is presently in silver should be made in gold," Mr Sasane said. 
"We also felt that his statue seated on a well-designed gold throne will give the people coming here from far off places something more to look forward to." 
Mr Sasane said the trust already had 90kg gold donated by devotees over the last four to five years and they will be raising money to get the remaining amount required for the throne. 
"We have already opened an account called Sai Sinhasan Donation or Sai Throne Donation and have received about $166,666 (7500,000 rupees) from various followers from India and abroad, but more so from people within the country," he said. 
He also said they had invited various people to submit designs for the throne.