Sai Baba temple at Shirdi to get ₹166-cr visitor centre, museum

THE TRUST HAS ALSO PLANNED A TWOSTOREY BUILDING TO ACCOMMODATE 23,000 DEVOTEES

MUMBAI: The Sai Baba temple in Shirdi is set to attract more tourists through its plan to build a wax museum, planetarium, and theme exhibitions related to the spiritual leader. The temple will also construct a queue complex to make devotees’ experience more comfortable. The bhoomipujan for the project was conducted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

A budget of ₹166 crore has been allocated for the Sai Knowledge Park. Spread on 20 acres of land, the Park will have walkways, skywalks, water fountains, along with a planetarium and wax museum.

“We expect the construction to begin in the next three months,” said Rubal Agarwal, chief executive officer, Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust (SSST).

“About 70,000 devotees visit the temple every day and if even 5,000 visit the Park, there is great commercial potential for the operation. The entry fee will not be more than ₹300 as mentioned in the bidding document,” she said.

The Trust expects to recover the project cost within 3.5 years.

The Trust has also planned a two-storey building to accommodate 23,000 devotees which will feature 12 waiting halls, more than 60 toilets, child care, and care for physically-challenged devotees.

The work on the entire project began on Friday and is expected to be completed within 12 months. SSST has also planned to move schools and colleges to a spacious educational complex spread on 65,625 square metres, comprising five buildings with classrooms, swimming pool, and sports complex. “Currently, the school and college are in a tiny place in the complex,” said a Trust official. At the bhoomipujan, Modi commended SSST for its plan to set up a 10MW solar power system.