SHIRDI

Shirdi (Marathi: शिर्डी) is a town and falls under the jurisdiction of municipal council popularly known as Shirdi Nagar Panchayat, located in Rahata Tahasil (i.e. taluka) in Ahmednagar District in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is accessible via the Ahmednagar - Manmad State Highway No.10, approximately 83 km from Ahmednagar and 15 km from Kopargaon. 

It is located 185 km east of the Western Seashore line (the Ahmednagar - Manmad road), which is a very busy route. Shirdi is best known as the late 19th century home of the popular guru Shirdi Sai Baba.




MAP OF SHIRDI 

Demographics

As of the 2001 India census, the population of Shirdi stood at 26,169. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Shirdi has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 76%, and female literacy is 62%. In Shirdi, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.^[1]. But, Shirdi being a pilgrimage centre, it also has a large amount of floating population. On any given day some 25,000 devotees come for darshan. On holidays the number reaches to about half a million people. Due to easy availability of jobs, a lot of migrant population, mainly of unskilled labourers from UP, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh etc. also reside here. They are not part of any census.

Transportation

Shirdi is located approximately 296 km from Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra in India.It is called the Land of Sai.Helicopter services are available to Shirdi. The helipad is owned by Shri Sai Baba Sansthan Trust. One has to take the permission of the trust to land here. Shirdi now has a new railway station called "Sainagar Shirdi", which became operational in March 2009. The project was to be completed in 2001, but was actually completed only in 2009 due to various reasons. The new railway station is located just 2 KMs from Baba's Temple in Shirdi. The Shirdi Sansthan also provides bus transportation from the train station to their guest houses for those devotees that have chosen to reserve a room and stay at the newly constructed Sansthan guest houses (for most updated information pertaining to this, please see the Shirdi Sai Sansthan website).

As of 2010, there are trains from Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Mumbai (Maharashtra), Vishakhapatnam via Secunderabad (Andhra Pradesh) and other cities/states that have Shirdi railway station as their terminal stop. This means that devotees can get off the train at the Shirdi railway station and reach Baba's Mandir in less than 10 minutes (unlike in earlier years when one had to take a taxi or bus from Manmad and it took over an hour to reach Shirdi). Most trains arriving at Shirdi now have air-conditioned class, first class, second class and third class compartments, thus providing different levels of comfort and convenience according to the needs and affordability of the devotees. Trains also run from Manmad station which is 58 km from the heart of Shirdi, alternatively from Kopargaon station which is 15 km from Shirdi, or Nashik city, which is 119 km from Shirdi or Nagarsol. Daund railway station is 200 km from Shirdi. Buses and taxis ply from these railway stations and locations to and from Shirdi. Shirdi can be reached by bus from any of the following cities in Maharashtra State (India):Mumbai, Pune, Vashi, Panvel, Thane, Nashik, Akluj, Dhule, Nagpur and Aurangabad. Currently, four-laning of State highway Nagar-Manmad highway is in progress on BOT basis and should be completed by Mid-2010. Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation has been assigned to execute the works of internal roads in Shirdi. Soon, Shirdi will have its own airport by 2012. It is to be located at Kakdi, some 14 km towards south-east of Shirdi. Construction work for airport has commenced this year.

Places to visit

Shani Shingnapur which is a holy place located near Shirdi, is famous for temple of Lord Shani.Sai Baba Sansthan Trust has started work for a new "Sai Garden" based on the life & teachings of Shri Sai Baba on a 25 acre campus at Nimgaon-Korhale near Shirdi. It will provide devotees a glimpse of life of Sai Baba along with laser shows, live shows etc.