Kartarpur Corridor. PHOTO: FOREIGN OFFICE
LAHORE: Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar has announced increasing the land allotted for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur from three acres to 42 acres. He further announced not to make any kind of construction on the land, which remained under cultivation, attributed to Baba Guru Nanak.
He made these announcements while briefing the media during his visit to Kartarpur Corridor on Tuesday.
Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) Project Director Colonel Nadeem, Brigadier Atif, National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) officers, Gujranwala commissioner, Narowal district coordination officer (DCO), Narowal district police officer (DPO), Gujranwala Regional Police Officer (RPO) Tariq Qureshi, Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) Director General Kamran Lashari and officials from other departments were present at the meeting.
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The governor added that the total land for the corridor will be 408 acres. He inspected the pace of development work on the gurdwara and the corridor for more than an hour and lauded the performance of FWO and other departments working there.
He further said the provincial government would hope to have Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inaugural ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor. "The FWO and other departments have completed the work on the corridor in a few months which could otherwise have taken years to complete,"
He said that Pakistan would complete work on the corridor during October of the current year. “Around 5,000 Sikh yatrees, who have valid visas, will now be able to stay in Kartarpur.” He made it clear that the Sikh yatrees coming from India would have to return back from Kartarpur in their given time. The governor further said that 80% of the work on the corridor has been completed and all the work will be completed before the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak in October.
He added it was a good omen that the second round of talks between Pakistani and Indian delegations on the Kartarpur Corridor turned out to be successful. He hoped that India would also complete development work on the corridor in the required time. "We want to give a message to Sikh people that no cut will be made in the land allotted for the gurdwara.”'
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He added, “Rather 42 acres of land has been allocated for the gurdwara and 62 acres for cultivation. In this way, total land for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib will be 104 acres."
The governor stated that special transport will be provided from the checkpoint to Darbar Sahib to the Sikh yatrees arriving to Pakistan from India. "Work is underway at three food points for the pilgrims at Darbar Sahib where they will be provided quality meals and other facilities."
The governor briefed that the Sikh yatrees coming from the United Kingdom, United States and other countries on valid visas will be granted permission to stay here and residences built for them will provide accommodation for the 5,000 pilgrims visiting the country at any one time.
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The governor responded to a question about religious harmony and said that the religious tourism and heritage committee headed by him is making full efforts to promote tourism in the country.
“Four federal ministers including federal minister for religious affairs, three provincial ministers and officers of relevant departments are also part of the committee and we are trying to generate US$4 to 5 billion through tourism.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2019.
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