Sathya Sai Baba health: AP govt team to assess trust takeover

HYDERABAD: As thousands of devotees of Satya Saibaba continued to pray for the recovery of their spiritual leader, a concerned state government dispatched a five-member team to Puttaparthi on Tuesday evening with the specific mission of finding out whether there is a need for the state to take over the affairs of the Satya Sai Central Trust.

The five-member team comprises principal secretary, finance, L V Subramanyam, principal secretary, health, P V Ramesh, director of medical education Dr Raghu Raju, Osmania General Hospital (OGH) cardiologist Dr Laxman Rao and OGH general physician Dr Bhanu Prasad.

"While the doctors will ascertain as to the actual health condition of Satya Saibaba, others will interact with the trust members to find out whether there is any system in place for running the scores of charitable schemes conceived by the Baba under the umbrella of the central trust," said one official.

According to estimates by the income tax department, the Satya Sai Central Trust is worth more than Rs 40,000 crore.
All donations to the trust receive complete tax exemption.

What is said to be of key concern to the state is that the trust receives at least hundreds of crores of rupees annually as donations from foreign individuals. "What this team will find out is whether there is a proper accounting system and spending mechanism in place in the trust. If it is not there, the state might consider the option of taking over the trust," said top government sources. It is to study the accounting system that the state has sent the principal secretary, finance, to Puttaparthi, they added.

The Satya Sai Central Trust runs the university complex, a speciality hospital, a world religious museum Chaitanya Jyoti, a planetarium, a railway station, a hill-view stadium, a music college, an administrative building, an airport, an indoor sports stadium and a sports complex in Puttaparthi.

Besides, there are an estimated 1,200 Satya Saibaba centres in over 180 countries running schools and health and cultural centres.