Sai trust under pressure with Rupees 3.5 crore power bill

Puttaparthy, Jul 12: On Friday, Jul 8 the Andhra Pradesh Transmission Corporation shocked the Sathya Sai Central Trust by issuing a notice of Rs.3.5 crore as electricity charges. The corporation officials said as the government had not paid subsidy towards the electricity supplied to the trust since 2010, they had directed the trust to clear the dues.

The trust which manages the affairs of the vast spiritual empire of late Sathya Sai Baba has to pay the arrears for electricity consumed by the super-specialty hospital and other institutions run by it in Puttaparthi town.

This apart, the trust has been granted exemption from paying customs and excise duty, VAT and commercial tax on import of medical equipment, among few others.

A spokesperson of Transco said, "As per our records, the subsidy on electricity bill on 11 organisations has not been reimbursed by the government since April 2010. We need to approach the user (the Trust) for clearance of the dues. If they take up the matter with the government and manage to get the amount reimbursed from the State, we have no problem."

After the details of the huge haul of cash and other valuables from Sai Baba's private chamber at the Puttaparthi ashram shocked the country, the cops are still probing into the case that led to rising controversies against the Godman SaiBaba's trust.

OneIndia News