Apex court-mandated cleaning at Gyanvapi to be done tomorrow

The cleaning of a tank in the sealed wuzukhana of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi will be done on Saturday, 20 January on the order of the Supreme Court, the district authorities said on Friday, 19 January.

On Tuesday, the apex court had allowed cleaning of the tank in the wuzukhana, which has been sealed since May 2022.

The date was decided at a meeting chaired by Varanasi DM S. Rajalingam with Hindu plaintiffs, the defendant Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee and police officials on Thursday.

“Honourable Supreme Court gave directives for the cleaning of the wuzukhana tank. A dialogue was held with both the parties (plaintiffs and defendants). Cleaning of the wuzukhana tank will be done on Saturday,” Rajalingam said.

The meeting was attended by Subhash Nandan Chaturvedi, Sudhir Tripathi, counsel for four Hindu women plaintiffs, one of the plaintiffs Sita Sahoo and the defendant Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee’s joint secretary S.M. Yasin.

Earlier, advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain had filed a plea on behalf of four Hindu women plaintiffs, seeking a direction to district magistrate to clean the tank because the fish there are dead.

The Supreme Court allowed the plea after Hindu plaintiffs said that the cleaning of the tank is needed because fish are dead and a putrid smell is emitting from the tank.

Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages Gyanvapi mosque, also said most fish in the tank are dead due to which a stench is emitting from the tank.

Cleaning of the tank is needed to save the remaining fish that are alive, it said.