The Sathya Sai Central Trust was served with a notice to cough up a Rs. 3.3 cr power bill for its super-speciality hospital.
The Sathya Sai Central Trust has not been spared by the government a second time, now in terms of offering a subsidy to the Trust for the supply of power to the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, a super-speciality hospital.
The Sathya Sai Central Trust was, on Friday, served with a notice to cough up a power bill amounting to Rs. 3.3 crore on account of the cited hospital.
Hitherto, out of a unit cost of Rs. 4.30, the state government was offering Rs. 4 per unit, and 30 paisa was paid by the Trust.
The power bill of the Sathya Sai Super Speciality Hospital at Puttaparthi amounted to Rs 3.3 crore, with the government now deciding to treat the hospital on par with other hospitals.
The move came in the wake of swift developments, wherein the Trust was earlier served a notice by the government in respect of its accounts and appointments.
Principal Secretary (Finance Department) Suthirtha Bhattacharya, in an exclusive interview, said that the AP Power Distribution Company was left with no alternative in the situation except serving the demand notice to the Trust for recovery of the electricity bill.
The government, it is understood, saw no reason why it should not cease paying a subsidy to the Sathya Sai Central Trust.
However, it was not clear why the government took the decision. Is this because of the absence of the spiritual leader Sathya Sai Baba, or due to the differences among the members of the Trust over its continuation?
So far, the 'successor' issue has been hanging fire. It may be recalled that a security cover was offered to the Trustees of the Sathya Sai Central Trust and to Sathyajit, the spiritual leader's aide.
There is also a growing anger among a section of people, especially local political leaders, against the Trust members.
It is also reckoned that the Central Trust owned assets worth over Rs. 40,000 crore, and that it was yet to decide on a successor to the spiritual leader Sathya Sai Baba.
A section of the press also gave wide coverage to the 'property' found in the Prashanti Nilayam. There was speculation that that the state government had set its eyes on the Trust and its funds.
The Trust is also supposed to reply to the state government's notice on its functioning and finance upkeep, including the sister concerns of the entire organisation. (INN)