PM Modi arrives at Shirdi Saibaba, inaugurates new darshan queue complex

| Updated: 26 October, 2023 7:19 pm IST

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at Shirdi Saibaba where he performed puja and darshan at Shri Saibaba Samadhi Temple on Thursday in Maharashtra. PM Modi opened the new Darshan Queue Complex following the puja.

Constructed at an expense of Rs112 crores, the Darshan queue complex is a cutting-edge, contemporary establishment intended to offer a waiting area for devotees of Saibaba.

Governor of Maharashtra Ramesh Bais, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis, and Revenue Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil were with him. The PM left Delhi and landed at Shirdi airport in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra at around 1 pm.

It has multiple waiting areas that can accommodate more than 10,000 people in total. It also has the provision of air-conditioned public spaces such as restrooms, cloakrooms, prasad counters, booking counters, and information centres.

After more than four years of construction, the new air-conditioned complex has 12 large halls on the first and second floors. This will effectively reduce devotees’ wait time. Around 14,538 lockers have been installed at the new darshan complex to securely store shoes and cell phones for approximately 45,000 devotees.

This is the prime minister’s second visit to the temple. On the 100th anniversary of Sai Baba’s passing in 2018, the Prime Minister paid a visit and took part in the laying of the facility’s foundation stone.

It also features a separate facility for the elderly and their carer. According to the trust, on festivals such as Ram Navami, Dussehra, and Christmas, 200,000- 250,000 people arrive to seek blessings in Shirdi. The temple has a turnover of more than Rs 400 crore annually as a part of donations.

PM Modi carried out the Jal Pujan of Nilwande Dam and conducted an aerial survey of the dam following the puja at the Saibaba temple. He then dedicated the dam’s canal network to the country.

A system of canals connects the Ahmednagar district to the dam. It supplies 182 villages from seven tehsils with water. The dam’s conceptualisation began in 1970, and its development has come at a cost of Rs. 5,177 crore.

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