Garlands and flowers to be banned inside Shirdi Temple

Garlands and flowers to be banned inside Shirdi Temple



Place : Shirdi


News Date : 03/03/2013







Carrying garlands and flowers inside the Sai Baba Temple at Shirdi will soon be banned as the temple trust feels it is a safety risk. Having received countless threats from terror organisations, they believe terrorists could sneak in explosives by hiding them in garlands.





Kishore More, chief officer of the Shirdi Sai Sansthan Trust, said on Saturday, “We have taken an in principle decision of not allowing garlands. Devotees carry garlands into the temple in plastic bags. There is a risk of explosives being carried in these bags.”





The decision was also taken keeping in mind the fact that the recent twin blasts at Disukhnagar, Hyderabad, had also occurred close to a Sai Baba temple, which had also been targeted in a 2002 blast. “We will take a final decision after a meeting of the committee.





The date from which this rule will be implemented will be announced soon,” he added.





Security concerns





The Shirdi Temple has been on the radar of several terror outfits in the past few years, due to which the state has decided to beef up security with more guards and a police station inside the complex. In 2007, carrying cell phones into the temple was banned.





At present, 730 private security guards protect the 7-acre premises, funded by the Shirdi Sansthan which earned Rs 345 crore in donations last year. Fifty policemen, a sub-inspector and a bomb detection and disposal squad had also been deployed.





According to a senior IPS officer, the state has sanctioned 190 constables, two sub-inspectors and one inspector for the police station.





Talks are also on for the appointment of an IAS and IPS officer for the temple’s security and management.