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- TRAVELATORS FOR SMOOTH DARSHAN@ SAI BABA TEMPLE`SHIRDI -

05th Nov`2011

For the first time in India, the Sai Baba Temple in Shirdi is planning to install

Travelators, or moving Walkways like the ones at airports, to facilitate quick andhassle-free darshan for thousands of devotees who visit the shrine daily.

The project, tentatively estimated to cost Rs.60 crore, is planned at the old 'Shri SaiPrasadalaya', a short distance away from the main Temple complex. It is expected tocut waiting time for darshan to less than an hour. A Travelator is a slow conveyor belt

that transports many people simultaneously, horizontally or on an incline.

On an average, more than 50,000 devotees from India and abroad throng theTemple daily for Sai Baba's darshan. On special days, festivals and vacation

seasons, the figure goes up over 10 times. The huge rush forces the devotees towait in long queues, sometimes up to 10-12 hours, for a glimpse of Sai Baba.

It is very tiring for senior citizens, sick and handicapped persons or pregnant womento wait for such long hours for a brief darshan. It is expected that the Travelator will

reduce the waiting time to less than one hour per batch of devotees.

The walkway is slated to be ready for use in a years time and the Devotees will havean option to choose between either using the Travelator or walk to the shrine.

Mumbai's Architect Hafeez Contractor has been signed up to prepare a master planfor the new Darshan Complex which will include Travelators as until the architect's

plans are finalized, it would not be possible to estimate how many Travelators wouldbe required and what would be the carrying capacity and related aspects.

On an average, a single Travelator can move 25,000 people over a certain specifieddistance safely, without jostling. Automated systems like Travelators would eliminate

jostling for space and a chance to get a view of Baba's Idol.The Travelators would move slowly at a certain speed, covering a certain distance,

and afford all its occupants a few minutes of darshan.

At a later stage, the SSST plans to extend the Travelator facility right up to the mainapproach road to the Sai Baba temple complex, making the darshan even quicker &

drastically cutting down the waiting period.

During festival season, the crowd of devotees arriving at the shrine often becomesunmanageable, leading to chaos. To resolve this issue, the authorities were forced to

install a temporary shed for devotees. Devotees breaching the queue is a mattertaken quite seriously.

The Travelator will help reduce other expenses on building sheds to protect devoteesduring monsoon/summer, the temporary metal queue railings and volunteers to manthe queues of waiting pilgrims. and will also help lower the chances of a stampede

and rescue operations will be carried out much faster in case of a fire.

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"gOd chOOses what wegO thrOugh.

We chOOse hOw we gO thrOugh it"....John C. Maxwell

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