 "Shirdi Sai Baba")
Shirdi Saibaba Temple, located in Maharashtra, has clarified that it will remain open and all religious traditions will continue. This came just days after reports stated that the town of Shirdi will go on an indefinite strike from May 1 to protest the proposed CISF deployment at the temple.
In a statement, the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust said, "On behalf of Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi, darshan at Shri Saibaba Samadhi Temple, all the Aartis and all the religious traditions will continue on Monday, May 1, 2023, and thereafter all the facilities from Sansthan such as Shri Sai Prasadalaya, all Bhakt Niwas locations, and hospitals, etc would be functioning regularly as always."
Last week, a report by IANS quoted officials as saying that the town of Shirdi was planning to go on indefinite strike from May 1. The shutdown call by all the markets, transporters, and commercial and hospitality industry was issued by different organisations who were jointly opposing the planned CISF security for the temple.
People argued that the CISF is a specialised force equipped to handle the security of major public installations and has no expertise for the unique security challenges of a religious shrine like Shirdi.
The proposed shutdown would have dealt a major blow to the local economy, which entirely depends on religious tourism for its survival.
The people also apprehended that if the CISF takes over the SSST temple security, it would have resulted in huge restrictions for the locals, tourists and others, thus affecting their employment avenues.
The Shirdi town has a population of around 25,000 and the Saibaba Temple is visited by over 50,000 devotees daily, cutting across faith lines, which adds to over two crore followers from India around the world annually.
