The Shirdi Saibaba Temple’s coins worth lakhs have been rejected by four banks in Maharashtra as they have run out of space to keep them, and now the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust (SSST) is currently experiencing a severe “space crunch” as coins given by devotees keep accumulating daily.
According to the reports, the temple receives monthly offerings totalling Rs 28 lakh in coins, which are put into its bank accounts in the city. The Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust maintains accounts with 13 state-owned bank branches. The majority of them are in Shirdi, but one is in Nashik. Four of these banks have said that they can no longer accept coins from the bank as they have no more space to keep them.
Every month, a different member of staff from each bank where the trust has an account goes to the temple to collect donations and deposits. Coins from the SSST totalling around Rs 11 crore have already been deposited in these banks, leaving no room for more coins.
“Officials of these four banks said they have no space to keep the coins they get every day. This is a big problem for the trust,” said Rahul Jadhav, the CEO of the trust.
The trust intends to write the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directly to request their assistance in the case. In addition to these four banks, others have asked the trust to fix the problem since they are also running out of space.
“Simultaneously, we have decided to approach banks in other parts of Ahmednagar district, as well as the state, to help us. We will open accounts of the trust in such banks, so that coins can be deposited there,” Jadhav added.
With the Covid pandemic’s hold fading, the temple’s currency issue has reemerged. Over 50,000 people visit the shrine every day on average, and coins have started to accumulate. In addition to the four banks that have ceased collecting coins, some of the remaining institutions have asked the trust to find a solution to this issue since they too are running out of room.
One of the senior bank officials who hosts one of the Trust’s accounts said that his bank has coins amounting to about Rs 1.6 crore. “Another bank in Shirdi has coins worth Rs 3 crore. In one of the banks, the coin bags are kept outside the strongroom since the room is completely stacked with coin bags,” he added.
Banks had brought up the problem of a space shortage with the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust in 2019 also. They said that the space at their branches has been used for coin bag storage. Back then, the trust provided coin storage facilities for the banks in the premises of the temple. However, the offer was turned down since such an arrangement is against the law.
