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Hyderabad, April 24 : Hindu guru Sathya Sai Baba, worshipped as a god by millions of followers worldwide, died Sunday morning in a hospital near his southern Indian ashram. He was 86.
Sai Baba had spent nearly a month on breathing support and dialysis while struggling with multiple-organ failure after being admitted March 28 to the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, near his ashram in Puttaparti village in Andhra Pradesh state.
Women selling marigold garlands broke down in tears outside the ashram when the news of his death was announced, and followers began trickling into the temple complex where the guru`s body would lie in state Sunday night through Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands of devotees are expected to pay last respects. A funeral with state honors is planned Wednesday morning.
The saffron-robed Sathya Sai Baba had a huge following, with ashrams in over 126 countries and Indian devotees including high-placed politicians, movie stars, world-class athletes and industrialists.
He was said to perform miracles, conjuring rings, watches and “vibhuti” — a sacred ash that his followers applied on their foreheads — from his overgrown and unkempt Afro-style hair.
But rationalist critics led campaigns against him, calling him a charlatan and his miracles fake. Several news reports also alleged he committed sexual abuse against devotees — allegations he denied as vilification campaigns.
Officials and celebrities expressed sadness at the guru`s passing, remembering him as a “great pious personality” who worked selflessly to help others.
“Sri Satya Sai Baba was a spiritual leader who inspired millions to lead a moral and meaningful life, even as they followed the religion of their choice,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement. His death is “an irreparable loss to all, and the nation deeply mourns his passing away.”
A heavy police deployment, in place for weeks as Sai Baba`s condition worsened, was using barricades to restrict road traffic Sunday, while shopkeepers were told to close to limit the number of people in town.
Andhra Pradesh state declared four days of mourning, with its top official calling Sai Baba “a symbol of love, affection and passion.”
“Sri Satya Sai Baba has given his great self to the service of humanity,” Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy said. “He will be remembered for ages to come by all sections of people all over the world.”
Born Nov. 23, 1926, as Sathyanarayana Raju, he was said as a child to display a tendency toward spirituality and unusual intelligence, which he expressed through music, dance and writing poetry and plays.
In 1940, at the age of 14, he declared himself an “avatar,” or reincarnation, of another Hindu holy man called the Sai Baba of Shirdi, a town in western Maharashtra state, who died in 1918.
As the young guru attracted followers, his home of Puttaparti grew from a sleepy village into a vibrant town with the sprawling “Prasanthi Nilayam” ashram built in 1950, as well as a large hospital, a university and schools run by his Satya Sai Central Trust, set up in 1972 with donations from devotees.
The trust — estimated to be worth at least $8.9 billion and possibly much more — also established spiritual centers in the cities of Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. It built another hospital in Bangalore, where Sai Baba had a summer home, and funded water supply projects in several southern states.
Though no successor has been named to run the trust, it has assured “there is or will be no vacuum,” according to a recent statement released after the guru was hospitalized.
Health woes over recent years had forced Sai Baba to cut down on public appearances. He survived a stroke and a series of heart attacks in 1963. In 2005, he began using a wheelchair, and a year later he fractured his hip when a student fell from a stool onto the guru.
Sai Baba was also mired in controversies, with several news reports about allegations of sexual abuse and fake miracles.
A 2004 television program by the British Broadcasting Corporation called the “Secret Swami” featured interviews with at least two American male devotees claiming the guru had fondled their genitals and exposed himself to them while claiming it was part of a healing ritual.
Though he denied the allegations and was never charged with any crime, the reports led some to break with the guru.
The ashram also said Sai Baba had survived an attempt against his life, with six devotees including the guru`s personal assistant killed in his bedroom in June 1993 after allegedly trying to attack him. Facts of the case still remain a mystery.
Sai Baba was never married and has no children.

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IMPHAL April 26: The 2 day Multimedia campaign on the achievement of SPF government and flagship programmes concluded at the Trade Centre conference hall today. The function was organized by district information officer of Chandel.
The inaugural function held yesterday saw Lunminthang Haokip,ADC of Moreh as chief guest and A Balkrishna , joint director of DIPR as president. Various community leaders and other officials attended the function.
The chief guest in his speech voiced the need for the Moreh residents to be well informed about the various developmental schemes and projects provided by the centre, such knowledge will go a long way in benifiting the populace. Moreh can become a tourist hub if development takes place and if the schemes are properly implimented,he said.
In the technical session ,retired DIO of Chande and Ch Ibungo,DI of Chandel,medical officer Dr.Priyokumar among others briefed the gathering in regard to the different falgship programs undertaken by the government.
The community  leaders present at the function voiced dissapproval regarding the absence of some officials who would throw more light on the subject and further requested that such another program aimed at delivering information to the masses regarding the public benifit schemes should be held in future soon.

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The drive to clean up Imphal after the initial fanfare has receded into the background once again. But even the little extra consciousness of the need for keeping the city clean seems to have left its mark. Thangal Bazar for instance looks a lot more orderly today. For long, this stretch of one of the oldest and busiest commercial streets of Imphal city was almost buried in its own waste. Moreover, the prolonged isolation caused by the construction of the BT Flyover and then the three modern Keithel complexes, had left it almost dead as a commercial centre, as it was increasingly becoming difficult for customers to enter the area. Now that these constructions are finally drawing to a completion and the virtual marooning of the Thangal Bazar finally over, the market is slowly but surely regaining its old vitality. Quite noticeable, for the moment at least, is a new effort to keep the place clean by all those who are doing business here. The place in short is now wearing a somewhat swept look and this is welcome. Whether this is only a salvo to cheer the end of the long isolation and business strangulation it was condemned to and that things would be back to its messy past sooner than later, or else there has been a dawn of a new found collective desire to live and trade in clean environment, remains to be seen.
Imphal would have been such a beautiful mid-sized city if it was clean and not as dusty as it is now. Its climate is amazingly temperate, with mild summers and not too bitter winters. It does not have too much noise pollution or for that matter motorcar fumes as in almost all other cities of the country. What it does have in abundance is dusts. In the dry season especially, it is next to impossible to be travelling on its roads in anything but a sealed, air-conditioned car. As not everybody can afford this luxury, it is imaginable how much this condition is responsible for respiratory tract ailments amongst numerous Imphal residents. It is not surprising that face masks and other air filter devices to breathe with have become such a hit in the city. Practically every two wheeler rider and pedestrian today wears such a device. Perhaps schools should also make it part of their school uniform for the safety of the children in their schools. Why is the government not thinking of combating this menace on a war footing? It once began with a campaign to make Imphal a plastic-free city, but abandoned it sooner than it started it. Why this lack of will power? Gangtok, the capital of the latest state to join the Northeast, Sikkim, managed it so well and today this small but exquisitely clean hill station can boast of being totally plastic bag free. It is also one of those Indian cities where outdoor, open restaurants are possible, because it is also virtually dust free.
Some MLAs, including the Yaiskul legislator, have begun using their local area funds to black-top all dirt lanes in their constituencies, and this is a good beginning, for most of the dust on the tarmac roads are brought on it from the muddy approach lanes to them. This is, we must say, one way of spending this public fund in the hands of MLAs and MPs meaningfully. Most of the time, it is not really known how this money is spent, and as it emerged during the last Assembly election, a lot of it ended up spent only on paper with little or nothing to show on the ground. The government should also hasten up its construction works in Imphal city. For whatever its reason, it has not taken up these works in batches, but virtually all in one go making Imphal all the more dusty, and not only this, inconveniencing commuters on these roads. It must realise, keeping Imphal clean is not just about beautification but more importantly of public health as well. For all these reasons, we are of the opinion the government must take up this issue on a priority basis. It must resolve that in the next one year, Imphal would be a dust free city. This would be a boon for all the residents of Imphal apart from making it much more attractive for tourists. Come to think of it, unlike say the question of bringing the insurgency situation under control, or boosting the economy of the state, this one is imminently achievable. For all we know, perhaps this is the trigger to start the chain reaction of problem solutions in the state, after all, what is needed for creativity to result is an all-round conducive atmosphere, and this cannot happen under the endless clouds of dust that Imphal today is shrouded in.

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