Case study:
Management
of Religious and Charitable institution
Synopsis:
Gajanan Maharaj
charitable Trust, Village & Taluka Shegaon, District Buldhana, Maharashtra
State, India is a charitable organization, started in 12-09-1908 in the
auspicious presence of holy Saint Shree Gajanan Maharaj of Shegaon, in Vidharbh
region of Maharashtra State, India. Vidharbh region of shegaon in Maharashtra
is arid region with low rainfall.
The organization
is run on three basic pillars of Charity: Spiritual, service to mankind, Professional
management with vision. Trust carries 42
different services of the organization and other social activities completely run
by volunteers in most professional way with human face, using local ambiance while
of international standards. This trust
is the finest example of Spiritual, service oriented, Professional management
with human face. This case study is for review.
USP: Vidarbh is an arid region hence there is less natural beauty. It is also
out of the way for normal travel routes. The management turned this place in to
a religious cum tourist spot by developing a large artificial lake (Anand
Sagar), various gardens and tourism facilities surrounding this lake thereby
attracting many tourists to this place and also giving good facilities to them.
Most of the guest houses run by the trust are also in this area. This
also created a local employment in the area and also cultural activities keep
the locals busy on good path of adhyatma.
Details:
Gajanan Maharaj (Maharaj
is said for a king or a superior man) charitable Trust, Village & Taluka Shegaon,
District Buldhana, Maharashtra State, India is a Charitable organization which
is at about 4 hours journey from Nagpur in Central India. Holy saint Shree Gajanan Maharaj established
this trust on 12-09-1908 for service of mankind and then he left for heavenly abode
on 8 Sept 1910. A Samadhi ( A place of burial for holy saint) is a well
decorated place along with a temple of lord Ram just above this. Average 45,000 Devotees visit Samadhi every
day (more than 16 Million per year). Some of the famous devotees of Gajanan
Maharaj includes former CEO of Citi Bank, Dr. Vikram Pandit.
The trust is run
completely on donations of Devotees and there is no government aid. The kind of management you will see is
commendable.
Management at
Glance:
Description
|
Qty
|
Number of Trustees
|
12
|
Full time employees
|
2,000
|
Volunteers (There is a
waiting list of 1000 volunteers from 50 villages). Volunteers do service free
of charge.
|
8,625
|
Number of surrounding
villages involved for volunteering
|
318
|
Average number of Devotees
visiting every day
|
45,000
|
Free short spiritual lunch
(Mahaprasad) distributed daily between 10 am to 1 pm at temple to number of
devotees
|
20,000
|
People seating for
Mahaprasad at a time.
|
5,000
|
Peak time (Festival time)
free Mahaprasad distribution for number of devotees.
|
100,000
|
Total short spiritual lunch
distributed at all places ( AT temple premises and other places where lodging
is arranged for devotees)
|
45,000
|
Volunteers: Volunteers are the backbone of their
services. They are well trained, courteous, modest. with complete devotion to their work. Volunteers
are of all castes and creeds and from completely illiterate to highly educated
class, however common theme behind their services is devotion to their
spiritual guru and nishkam karmayog (Selfless Act).
Accommodation
at Shegaon
The Trust runs 4 residential
complexes in shegaon with most moderate rates between Rs 200 to Rs 1000 per
night depending on type of room. There are big dining halls where Breakfast,
lunch, Dinner is provided at very nominal rates for approximately 9000 people
daily. All accommodation complexes have
reception centers. All of them have special breast feeding rooms for ladies
with babies. We have not seen such an arrangement anywhere till now. All Bhakta
niwas (Accommodation place for devotees) have well maintained gardens,
recreation for children, arrangement for tea/coffee/snacks / lunch/ dinner at
nominal rates.
Accommodation
figures at glance
Bhakta Niwas no. 1 & 2
near temple
|
160
rooms
|
450
cots
|
Bhakta Niwas Hatikhana
Premises
|
416
rooms
|
1538
cots
|
Bhakta Niwas Ananad Vihar
Complex premises
|
662
rooms
|
2608
cots
|
Bhakta Niwas Ananad Visava
Complex premises
|
472
rooms
|
2823
cots
|
Total
|
1710
rooms
|
7419
cots
|
Bus service: The Trust runs free of charge bus service
with 5 luxury buses to carry people from Shegaon Railway station to temple and
at various accommodation places as well as Anand sagar. Devotees can also park
their vehicle at designated places free of charge in Accommodation premises.
Anand Sagar
Project:
Looking at
scarcity of water in and surrounding shegaon, Trust created an artificial lake
called Anand Sagar by lifting water from “Man river” which is 9 kms away from
shegaon, thereby increasing water table of the area. As a typical management
thumb rule, the trust turn the crises into opportunity. The organization turned
this artificial lake into a tourist spot by having a huge garden
surrounding this lake and keeping
various tourist attractions with spiritual and children recreational activities
such as Vivekanand meditation centre, Navgraha Temple (9 Planets temple),
musical fountain show at night at amphi theatre, artificial island named Dwarka
inside lake for resting, Saints Garden (place where Statues of 18 ancient
saints, from 18 Indian states are kept),
small aquarium, a small children train, various rides for children.
Anand Sagar is not merely a commercial amusement park but it is strongly based on the spiritual heritage and the grand Hindu Culture. Anand Sagar also respects all faiths and religions from different states. It has idols of many Saints from India. Looking at vast area to observe, as a care for old people and children, there are wheel chairs for old, Prams for small children, umbrellas to protect against sun. Drinking water and toilets are at every place while moving around the lake and garden. There are two big Meals and coffee houses inside children’s park area.
Anand Sagar figures at glance ( 1 acre = 4046.86 sq. meter)
Area of Anand Sagar tourist
spot
|
350
acre
|
Area utilized till now
|
140
acre
|
Number of plants planted
and maintained
|
1,00,000
|
Cost of Anand Sagar project
in INR
|
3,000,000,000
|
Water lifting charges per
day from river
|
50,00,000
|
Entry fee per visitor in
INR
|
50
|
Branches:
The trust also has
arrangements for lodging and boarding at 7 other religious places in India such
as Pandharpur-Maharashtra ( 252 rooms, many social activities for Varkaris),
Omkareshwar-Madhya Pradesh (104 rooms, allopathic clinic for travelers),
Adgaon(Near Shegaon), Trimbakeshwar near Nashik- Maharashtra (194 rooms, mobile
hospital for Tribals), Kapildhara near Nashik-Maharashtra, Alandi, Maharashtra
(110 rooms, ambulance for varkaris), Girada near Aurangabad, Maharashtra( Allopathic
/ Homeopathic research centre, Naturopathy centre, mobile hospital, many other
activities).
Social Services:
A.
Education:
1.
The Organization
runs English medium school, Engineering college, Kindergarten school for Tribal.
2.
It
runs 4 hostels for boys and 3 hostels for girls.
3.
It has
well equipped library which has more than 6500 spiritual and educational books.
4.
The
trust runs Residential school for mentally retarded children. There are 27
trained teachers taking care of these children and training them in appropriate
skills.
5.
From
1964, the trust is running “Varkari Shikshan Sanstha” which runs 4 year
spiritual course in Varkari sect of Hinduism. About 100 students are taking
advantage of this facility.
B.
Medical
services: with the help of
3 mobile hospitals covering Allopathic, Ayurvedic, homeopathic, handicapped
rehabilitation centers and physiotherapy centers everyday 2100 patients are attended.
1
Allopathic
department: started in 1974, till 2013, has attended 79,39,642 patients. Has 5
ambulances with latest gadgets. All services free of charge.
2
Ayurvedic
department: Started in 1963, till 2013 has attended 21,55,005 patients, free of
charge.
3
Homeopathic
department: started in 1973, till 2013 has attended 39,39,452 patients, free of
charge.
4
Handicapped
rehabilitation centre: Till 2013, 2,51,945 patients were attended. Special camp
was organized for such patients which catered to 2584 patients and of which 400
patients were operated at Udaipur hospital in Rajasthan. All services free of
charge.
5
Eye
care camps: From 1975, the trust is organizing eye care camps every year and
till now 13,642 patients were operated for operations such as cataract, free of
charge.
C.
Various
water provisions for farmers, Medical camps and aids on natural calamities are
provided to local farmers.
Cleanliness: At all the above places (Temple, Accommodations,
Anand Sagar) you will find a most clean premises, garden, lobbies etc.
Unmistakable
execution: In spite of
having so many visitors, the processes are so well laid down and staff/
volunteers trained and monitored, that there is no mistake done and no chaos at
any of the above places.
Transparency in
functioning: You will be
surprised to note that every day, the notice board at the temple displays
donation collections of previous day from all sources ( Rare in Indian trusts).
All the processes are transparent and recorded on computer.
Vision of
Trustees:
The vision of the
trustees is to follow the principals of their spiritual guru, Shri Gajanan
Maharaj, to serve the mankind. They understand that the donations given to
trust are to serve poor and had to be utilized in most efficient way in a
result oriented manner.
I feel everyone should visit such a nice
place, irrespective of their religious ties.
Refernce:
2.
Pamphlet
distributed at temple / Bhakt Niwas
3.
Personal
visit at these places by author.
Presented by : Madhav G. Bhole
A1/302,
Ajit Park CHS, Somwar Bazar,
Malad West, Mumbai 400064,
India
Email: Madhavbhole99@Gmail.com
Whatsapp / Mob No.:
+91-8451886759
END
OF CASE STUDY.
