* Sathya (truth) Dharma (righteousness) Santhi (peace) Prema

affectionately.  I am extremely happy that this building has 
come out so well and Swami is currently using this as his 
residence.  Earlier, a darshan hall and a guest house were 
built near Sai Brindavan, Whitefiled, Bangalore.
Sri Sathya Sai Indoor Stadium
L&T has good experience and reputation in building world-
class sports stadia like the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in 
Chennai (40,000-capacity, built in a world record time of 260 
days), Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore, the twin hockey 
stadium in Hyderabad, various sports structures in Guwahati 
for the Asian Games, and a football stadium in Qatar.  All 
these were based on design-and-construct principle and 
brought good name for L&T.  The Company once again won 
international recognition for the oval-shaped Kanteerava 
stadium (120 m x 80 m) from the Federation Internationale du 
Beton.  This experience has helped us in the construction of 
the indoor stadium at the Sri Sathya Sai University, Prasanthi 
Nilayam to commemorate 25 years of the University.  As a 
silver jubilee gift to his students, Swami wanted a facility to be 
put up for indoor games like basket ball, shuttle badminton, 
table tennis, gymnastics, squash, yoga, etc. and an outdoor 
facility for tennis.  The task of completing such a stadium (120 
x 65 m), having no intermediate columns and with all modern 
amenities, would normally take not less than a year even for 
a company like L&T.  However, this project was completed 
in less than 5 months and the stadium was inaugurated on 
Swami’s birthday by the then President of India,  
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Sri Sathya Sai University, Muddenahalli
For engineers in India Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam 
Visweswaraya is an icon.  At Muddenahalli, the birth place of 
this great engineer, Swami gave us an opportunity to build 
the Prasanthi Tower and a college block in a site adjacent to 
the existing school.  This college was designed to function 
as part of the Sri Sathya Sai University.  The Prasanthi Tower 
houses a museum to highlight the history of the institution 
as well as a clock tower on the top of a hill overlooking the 
picturesque Nandi Hills.  It also has a spiral concrete ramp to 
take vehicles into the portico of the Tower.  This job was also 
accomplished in a short time of eight months.  Subsequently 
a new management school for girls was also added at 
Anantapur, constructed in just four months, as part of Sri 
Sathya Sai University.
Sai Bhaktha Nivas
To facilitate accommodating a large number of Sai devotees, 
dormitory accommodation under the name of Sai Bhaktha 
Nivas was designed and built, again in a short span of seven 
months.  All of these blocks, five in number, are three-storied 
and have bunk beds and each of them can accommodate 
approximately 900 people.  There are facilities like toilets, 
bath rooms and clothes washing area on all the three 
floors.  The top floor of each block has two halls,  30 m x 
12 m in size, with column-free space and can be used for 
community meetings when required.  The roof elements 
are made of precast concrete hyperbolic paraboloid shells, 
bringing economy and aesthetics combined with the latest in 
construction technology.
L&T, as a professional engineering & construction 
organization, has a long association with many clients, 
continuing to provide construction services to suit their 
requirements year after year.  Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust has 
provided such a unique opportunity to build projects which 
serve India and meet the social needs of the vast majority 
of less privileged people as well as devotees of Bhagawan 
Sri Sathya Sai Baba.  L&T could give not only innovative 
engineering solutions for these projects to be designed and 
executed in incredibly short periods but also could diversify 
into new profitable business activities in many fields thereafter.  
L&T project managers’ skills got improved in the process 
with a realization that all stakeholders working unitedly with a 
single purpose can bring in highly satisfying results in terms 
of quality, economy and time of completion.  This proves 
Swami’s message that divinity will automatically support any 
project executed with unity and purity. 
In the modern management parlance and the theories of 
management science there is no factor for luck or divine 
grace for growth or success.  Modern science also makes 
us think that everything is explainable in physical terms; but 
cannot explain rationally the miracles that we have seen 
Swami perform.  When we experience individually and think 
deep we understand the rationale behind the various beliefs 
and faiths and miracles performed by the various Avatars in 
different ages, supported by the literature of many religious 
faiths.
In all these years I have been able to visit and provide 
leadership for scores of L&T projects not only in India but also 
in other countries in the Indian subcontinent, South East Asia, 
Middle East, Russia and East Africa and found the time and 
energy because Swami told me and my wife that He would 
be always with me and there is nothing to worry about my 
Sri Sathya Sai International 
Centre at Delhi, constructed 
by L&T.

---

16
health.  He even predicted and indicated about a 
job where we would lose money and he protected 
me from the consequences by enormous success 
in many other jobs.  When we took up for the first 
time a PPP (Public-Private Partnership) project 
for investing in and developing the Bangalore 
International Airport with international partners/
shareholders from Germany and Switzerland there 
was inordinate delay in policy decisions by the 
State and Central Governments.  As this led to 
disillusionment to our international partners Dr. 
Fritz Ruess and Dr. Wolfgang Bischoff of Siemens 
and Mr. Herbert Meier of Zurich Unique Airport.  I 
took them for Swami’s darshan and interview and 
narrated our predicament.  Swami told us that 
it would take a further three years even though 
construction will be finished in two years and the 
project would be a financial success.  Subsequently 
the Airports Authority of India Act was amended in 
the Indian Parliament and facilitated privatization 
of big airports in India.  These developments made 
Siemens and Zurich Airport stick with L&T in the 
consortium.  It is not only an enormous success 
for all of us but also led to “L&T being chosen for 
turnkey EPC construction of airports at Hyderabad, 
Delhi and Mumbai” and making us an expert in a 
new business of airports, like water earlier.
Board meetings and other important engagements 
would not clash with my many visits to Puttaparthi, 
sometimes using the Company aircraft as if some 
magic was happening.  In August 1997, just 
three days before the convocation of the Andhra 
University, I came to know that I would be awarded 
an honorary doctorate (D.Sc.) by the Andhra 
University at Visakhapatnam.  I went to Puttaparthi 
in L&T aircraft to take Bhagawan’s blessings and 
proceeded in the same aircraft to Visakhapatnam 
just the evening before the convocation.  In the 
meantime I came to know later that cine playback 
singer and musician of repute Smt. P. Susheela had 
been chosen for “Kala Prapoorna”, a doctorate in 
music, by the Andhra University.  She was staying 
at Puttaparthi at that time and told Swami that 
it was physically not possible for her to reach 
Visakhapatnam in time for the convocation.  
However, Swami told her not to worry and that 
He would send her in time.  After I reached 
Puttaparthi on an unplanned visit, Swami arranged 
for her to travel with me in the company aircraft to 
Visakhapatnam.  We both received our honorary 
doctorates in time.  Who but God could have taken 
care of His devotees through such miracles!
L&T as an organization has also experienced 
extraordinary success and performance beyond 
reasonable estimates.  The twenty-year period 
from 1990 to 2010, during which we came under 
Swami’s influence, has also seen such extraordinary 
growth in ECC Division’s business volume, literally 
90 times in annual sales performance, from Rs.280 
Cr. to Rs.26,000 Cr. per annum. From a background 
of constructing buildings and industrial projects, we 
went into new diversifications including roads, water 
supply, airports and ports and other infrastructure 
projects apart from expansion into the international 
market (especially Middle East) and investment in 
public-private partnership (PPP) projects for the 
first time in the country.  In the PPP (BOT, etc.) 
field we gained the experience of investing in 
and constructing projects very fast and making a 
success of it.  Nearly forty special purpose vehicles 
16

---