Counting of cash in Sai Baba temple donation boxes is done twice a week in the presence of bank officials

The counting of cash collected in donation boxes of the famous Sai Baba temple in Shirdi was on Friday cancelled as bank officials did not turn up citing lack of space to keep coins, Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust (SSST) Chief Executive Officer Deepak Muglikar said.

He said the SSST had written to the banks as well as the Reserve Bank of India to solve this issue.

"Counting of cash in our donation boxes is done twice a week in the presence of bank officials. The cash, on an average, totals Rs 2 crore during each counting session, including Rs 5 lakh in coins. The procedure is to deposit the cash and coins in eight nationalised banks on a rotation basis," he explained.

"For the past few months, banks have been telling us they do not have space to store coins. We have asked them and the RBI to solve the problem," he added.

Sources said coins worth Rs 1.5 crore collected from SSST are lying in the form of deposits in banks.