Shirdi isn’t new to Pandey. The "miraculous internal change" he experienced after his first visit to the town in 1982 has made Sai Baba his life’s pivot. He has also been a trustee of the Shri Sai Baba Sansthan Trust(SSBST) for the past year. While Pandey’s choice of Shirdi may seem like a believer’s impulse at first blush, he hastens to clarify that it is also backed by a businessman’s prudence. A naval officer, he turned his penchant for geological artefacts into Superb Minerals India, a Rs 7 crore enterprise at the forefront of India’s mineral and zeolite export to America, Europe and Australia. A far-reaching decision like this could only stem from a systematic study. That was when Shirdi pipped Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. "They sure have tourists and money," says Pandey, "but my project would have got lost there. As it is, museum is an abused concept in India." Adds an upbeat Jayantrao Sasane, mla and ssbst chairman, "This museum will give tourism in Shirdi a novel dimension."
Sadly, dissent is more expedient for some. Like a few SSBST old-timers, who are so piqued by Pandey’s high visibility that they accuse him of high-handedness and "abject hobnobbing with celebrities". Some have even alleged that Pandey has threatened his detractors at gunpoint.Others are openly carping about Pandey’s "Uttar Bharatiya" antecedents. As some others tilt at windmills, it becomes clear the project hasn’t been fully comprehended. Some fears verge on the bizarre. "We’ve heard there will be dance bars at his hotel; that’s unacceptable," says Shiv Sena’s Kamalakar Kote. Pramod Gundkar of the Youth Congress says the commercial character of the project will eclipse Shirdi’s spirit. "Pandey must assure us in writing that there will be no immoral activities at the centre," he says.