Mufti for alternative plan to avoid razing of mosques
Following Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's instructions to officials on July 17 to ensure the execution of Dalmandi Road widening project, and the financial and administrative approval by the state cabinet on July 22 for easy access to Gate 4 of Kashi Vishwanath Dham from Nai Sadak, the executing agency, public works department (PWD), started demarcation of 184 identified buildings. The project, worth Rs 215.88 crore, aims to convert the 650-metre-long Dalmandi, a narrow street replete with bottlenecks, into a 17.4-metre-wide passage.
PWD officials said that the process of examining documents to determine who possesses the areas in identified buildings and their ownerships had started.
This will be followed by the valuation of properties and beginning of negotiations for purchase or acquisition. In an open letter to President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Nomani said, "Dalmandi is a historical and vibrant area of the city that houses a major commercial hub of Purvanchal.
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For years, people from diverse social, cultural, and religious backgrounds have engaged in business activities here in harmony."
"The livelihoods of nearly 10,000 families are directly and indirectly linked to this area. The project will lead to the demolition of hundreds of shops, houses, and waqf mosque sites. Efforts should be made to explore an alternative route to avoid the demolition of six mosques and the centuries-old busy market," Nomani said.
"Dalmandi area is also an excellent example of communal harmony. It is not only commercially important but also the birthplace and workplace of great figures in India's literature, art, and culture. Demolition of mosques will not only violate constitutional and religious sentiments but also create insecurity and anger among the country's minority communities," he said, demanding suspension of the project claiming that the High Court had granted a temporary stay to mosques and building owners concerned, indicating that there are legal complexities inherent in this project.
Meanwhile, the Congress also wrote to Governor Anandiben Patel, terming the road-widening bid "as a bulldozer of redevelopment on the soul of Kashi".
Gyanvapi mosque management committee's joint secretary, SM Yasin, appealed to people not to create panic on the issue. Congress's city unit president Raghvendra Chaubey said that a 12-member team of party functionaries had been formed to conduct a survey of the area to understand the ground reality of Dalmandi.
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