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The police in this temple town is all geared up to help VVIPs pay their last respects to Sathya Sai Baba, who breathed his last at the Sathya Sai hospital here yesterday.
VVIPs are being allowed unhindered entry into Kulwant Hall, where Sathya Sai Baba’s body lies in a temperature-controlled glass casket. On the other hand, ordinary devotees have to sweat it out in serpentine queues and jostle with the police and other devotees to have last “darshans” of the departed godman.
Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and his wife Anjali flew to Puttaparthy from Hyderabad (Mumbai Indians led by Sachin had an IPL match against Deccan Chargers in the Andhra capital yesterday) and had a quick “darshan” of the Baba. A sobbing Sachin was consoled by Anjali who passed him a handkerchief when the master blaster broke down in front of the casket containing Sai Baba’s body.
Union ministers Bilasrao Deshmukh and Praful Patel also come to Puttaparthy this morning to have last “darshans” of the Baba. They could accomplish the task in a matter of minutes.
More VVIPs, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, are expected to land up here tomorrow.
In contrast, an ordinary devotee has to stand in the queue for long hours. After getting shoved by the police and facing a stampede-like situation at the entrance of Kulwant Hall, he could get a glimpse of Sai Baba only for a few seconds before being shooed away by volunteers of the Sai Sewa Dal deployed in the hall.
Janardhan, a devotee from Dharvaram in Andhra Pradesh, said he started from his house for Puttapurthi by bus at 10 am. Aiswath and his 12-year-old son Girish of Bagerpaly in Karnataka started from their house at 9 am. Janardhan and Aiswath had to stand in a queue for over four hours to have “darshans” of Sathya Sai Baba.
The number of ordinary devotees visiting Puttaparthy daily to pay their respects to Baba has touched the one-lakh mark, Janardhan Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Ananthpur district, said. Adequate police personnel had been deployed in the area for ensuring maximum security to the visiting VVIPs, he added.
VVIPs are being allowed unhindered entry into Kulwant Hall, where Sathya Sai Baba’s body lies in a temperature-controlled glass casket. On the other hand, ordinary devotees have to sweat it out in serpentine queues and jostle with the police and other devotees to have last “darshans” of the departed godman.
Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and his wife Anjali flew to Puttaparthy from Hyderabad (Mumbai Indians led by Sachin had an IPL match against Deccan Chargers in the Andhra capital yesterday) and had a quick “darshan” of the Baba. A sobbing Sachin was consoled by Anjali who passed him a handkerchief when the master blaster broke down in front of the casket containing Sai Baba’s body.
Union ministers Bilasrao Deshmukh and Praful Patel also come to Puttaparthy this morning to have last “darshans” of the Baba. They could accomplish the task in a matter of minutes.
More VVIPs, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, are expected to land up here tomorrow.
In contrast, an ordinary devotee has to stand in the queue for long hours. After getting shoved by the police and facing a stampede-like situation at the entrance of Kulwant Hall, he could get a glimpse of Sai Baba only for a few seconds before being shooed away by volunteers of the Sai Sewa Dal deployed in the hall.
Janardhan, a devotee from Dharvaram in Andhra Pradesh, said he started from his house for Puttapurthi by bus at 10 am. Aiswath and his 12-year-old son Girish of Bagerpaly in Karnataka started from their house at 9 am. Janardhan and Aiswath had to stand in a queue for over four hours to have “darshans” of Sathya Sai Baba.
The number of ordinary devotees visiting Puttaparthy daily to pay their respects to Baba has touched the one-lakh mark, Janardhan Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Ananthpur district, said. Adequate police personnel had been deployed in the area for ensuring maximum security to the visiting VVIPs, he added.
