Is a ‘Secret Tunnel’ Being Built Near Kashi Vishwanath Temple?

Reports of a ‘secret tunnel’ being built near Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi’s Dalmandi area have spread like wildfire over the past few days. The police and administration have spent a long time trying to solve the matter, but the shopkeepers of the biggest bazaar in eastern Uttar Pradesh have a different story to tell.

But was a tunnel really built near Kashi Vishwanath temple? Is there a threat to the temple’s security? Why was the case treated as a sensitive one? To seek answers to all these questions, The Quint travelled to Varanasi to visit the famous Dalmandi market.

Is the ‘Secret Tunnel’ a Rumour?

There were issues raised on the temple’s security and there were allegations made against shopkeepers about an illegal underground market being started in the tunnel.

However, the shopkeepers claimed that the news reports being published are nothing but rumours, and there is no such tunnel being built, but just a modest basement.

Munna Khan, who runs a shop in Dalmandi, claimed that the basement was being built as an effort to increase storage capacity.

A basement was being made as a godown for storage purposes, since the space up here is not enough to keep everything. The whole talk about the tunnel is nothing but a rumour.

Munna Khan, Shopkeeper

Matter related to illegal underground markets

The matter of illegal construction is very closely related to the illegal underground markets. Local shopkeepers constructed a basement below the shabby houses, and each basement was connected to the other, which made it resemble a tunnel.

This entire area of the basement is spread over an area of 9,000 square feet. The locals claim that SSP RK Bharadwaj was the first to notice this illegal construction.

The SSP was examining encroachments in the area when he saw light coming out of the basements, and he mistook the basement to be an underground tunnel.

Raees Pehalwan, Shopkeeper

This whole case became a sensitive issue because the distance between the Dalmandi market area and Kashi Vishwanath temple is not much. This actually led the DM to take cognisance of the matter and set up an inquiry committee. The administration has registered a case against seven people by sealing the basement. Two people have been arrested as well.

Surprisingly, illegal construction continued for a very long time and yet no action was taken against it, which is being seen as a failure of the local police and administration.

Video Editor: Vishal Kumar