HYDERABAD,Jan25, 2012: Less than a year since the demise of Indian spiritual guru Satya Sai Baba, the empire built by the godman in Puttaparthi is faced with a plethora of problems.The unflinching patronage enjoyed by Sai Baba and his string of philanthropic organisations and institutions during his lifetime not only from millions of devotees but even government agencies appears to be fading now.
For decades, the Sathya Sai Trust, which runs a wide range of institutions including a super specialty hospital and a university, enjoyed special subsidies from state utilities. Not anymore, say authorities now. And this is evident from the action taken by the state power department, which recently issued an order removing the tariff subsidy and asking the Trust to pay the charges as per the commercial slab and also clear the arrears running into a few millions. The power tariff for all the institutions run by the Trust at Puttaparthi, the spiritual abode of Baba, has been fixed at Rs6.25 per unit. The A P Power Transmission Corporation (AP Transco) has slapped a notice on the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, asking it to pay electricity arrears of over Rs30 million pending for the last 15 months. The amount mainly pertains to the power consumption in Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences and other institutions run by the Trust in Puttaparthi since March 2010. Though the Trust is yet to respond to the notice, there has been a spontaneous outpouring of support for the Trust from across the political spectrum and also from traders and businessmen in the spiritual town. While shops and other business establishments in the town downed shutters on Monday in protest against the Government’s order cancelling power subsidy, an all-party Joint Action Committee also staged a rally and submitted a memorandum to the power department, demanding restoration of the subsidy. “We must bear in mind that Sathya Sai Trust has been rendering yeoman service for humanity. Its institutions deserve government support. This same government which prostrated before Baba when he was alive is now trying to choke the institutions he had built,” said local YSR Congress Party leader B Chandrasekhar. CPI’s Adapa Vemanarayana, Congress’ Kota Satyanarayana and Telugu Desam Party’s V Chenna Kesavulu also participated in the rally. So far, the Trust has been enjoying a huge subsidy from the state-run power utility as a public charitable organisation. “All these years, the trust has been paying nominal charges while the government has been bearing the subsidy burden,” an official said.
“However, since March 2010, the government has not released the subsidy component and we are now compelled to issue notices to the trust to recover our dues,” an official in the power department in Anantapur said.
For decades, the Sathya Sai Trust, which runs a wide range of institutions including a super specialty hospital and a university, enjoyed special subsidies from state utilities. Not anymore, say authorities now. And this is evident from the action taken by the state power department, which recently issued an order removing the tariff subsidy and asking the Trust to pay the charges as per the commercial slab and also clear the arrears running into a few millions. The power tariff for all the institutions run by the Trust at Puttaparthi, the spiritual abode of Baba, has been fixed at Rs6.25 per unit. The A P Power Transmission Corporation (AP Transco) has slapped a notice on the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, asking it to pay electricity arrears of over Rs30 million pending for the last 15 months. The amount mainly pertains to the power consumption in Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences and other institutions run by the Trust in Puttaparthi since March 2010. Though the Trust is yet to respond to the notice, there has been a spontaneous outpouring of support for the Trust from across the political spectrum and also from traders and businessmen in the spiritual town. While shops and other business establishments in the town downed shutters on Monday in protest against the Government’s order cancelling power subsidy, an all-party Joint Action Committee also staged a rally and submitted a memorandum to the power department, demanding restoration of the subsidy. “We must bear in mind that Sathya Sai Trust has been rendering yeoman service for humanity. Its institutions deserve government support. This same government which prostrated before Baba when he was alive is now trying to choke the institutions he had built,” said local YSR Congress Party leader B Chandrasekhar. CPI’s Adapa Vemanarayana, Congress’ Kota Satyanarayana and Telugu Desam Party’s V Chenna Kesavulu also participated in the rally. So far, the Trust has been enjoying a huge subsidy from the state-run power utility as a public charitable organisation. “All these years, the trust has been paying nominal charges while the government has been bearing the subsidy burden,” an official said.
“However, since March 2010, the government has not released the subsidy component and we are now compelled to issue notices to the trust to recover our dues,” an official in the power department in Anantapur said.