Shegaon Anand sagar

 

Geography

Shegaon is located around 300 km west from the city of Nagpur and 550 km east from the city of Mumbai. It is located on the Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line of the Central Railway of Indian Railways. It has direct train connectivity to Mumbai CST, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Jamshedpur, Ahmedabad, Okha, Kolhapur, Amravati, Wardha, Nagpur, Gondia, Bilaspur, Howrah-Kolkata, Shalimar-Kolkata, Ballarshah, Chennai Central. From Mumbai several trains halt at Shegaon. Prominent being Vidarbha Express, Amravati Superfast Express, Mumbai Howrah mail and express, Sewagram express, Nagpur-Pune express, Navjivan Express, Gondwana Express, Maharashtra Express, Okha-Puri Express and Gitanjali express.^[1]
By road it is well connecting by neighbouring cities like Khamgaon, Balapur, Malkapur and Akola which are located on Hajira (Surat)- Dhule - Howrah (Kolkatta) National Highway 6. It is quite close to the industrial cities of Aurangabad and Nagpur.

Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan

Shegaon is popular as a pilgrimage destination as it is believed that Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj (see picture) lived here. Hindus consider Gajanan Maharaj a saint with miraculous powers. The origins of Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj are untraceable in history. Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj took "Samadhi" at Shegaon. Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj Temple is built on the Samadhi of Gajanan Maharaj. Sant Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan is the largest^{[citation needed]} temple trust in the Vidarbha region and is so called as "Pandharpur of Vidarbha". It attracts pilgrims from all over Maharashtra.
The Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan (Institution) Temple Trust runs the day-to-day affairs of the Temple; is headed by the Managing Trustees who normally comes from the linage of Patil's. Trust runs many services in the spiritual, religious, medical and educational fields. In particular, it runs Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of Engineering (SSGMCE) and Shri Gajanan Maharaj English School.
Thursdays, being the holy day of Gajanan Maharaj, and weekends witness huge crowds from all over Maharashtra. A new type of well-constructed, air conditioned darshan baari (queue) is constructed.

Anand Sagar entrance.

.At a time lots of bhakt can take darshan by this queue.

A temple at anand sagar

Anand Sagar

Shegaon has a tourist attraction called "Anand Sagar", a INR 3000 million project^{[citation needed]}. It is maintained by the The Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan. It surrounds a big artificial lake. It has a meditation centre, an aquarium, temples, play grounds, lush green lawns and open theatre where fountain-show is conducted for entertainment. It has been beautifully decorated with state of art artefacts and carvings all over. An amusement park has also started with a toy train encircling the entire place.

Education

Shri. Burungale High School, Shegaon

Shegaon has colleges offering degree in the area of Commerce and Arts. For skill building, Shegaon has an ITI (Industrial Training Institute). There are 10 schools and 4 junior colleges. It has an engineering college, Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of Engineering (SSGMCE), The engineering college is affiliated with Amravati University. SSGMCE ^[3][4] is known for its spiritual activities and compulsory uniform. It also has a MBA program affiliated to Amravati University. The Sansthan also runs other institutes such as Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj English Medium School, Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj Warkari Shikshan Sanstha, Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj Adiwasi Ashram School and Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj Mentally Retarded School. Mauli college of Engineering,Siddhivinayak Technical Campus, Saraswati college of Computer Application.
It also has Mauli Institute Of Technology and Siddhivinayak Technical Campus School of Engineering & Research Technology commencing from 2011-2012 and Sarsawati College 2009-10.