Centre discusses opening up of Kartarpur Sahib Corridor with stakeholders
TNN Bureau. Updated: 1/15/2019 8:10:11 PM
National
New Delhi, Jan 15 (UNI) The Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the stakeholders for the opening up of the proposed Kartarpur Sahib Corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab to Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan here in the Home Ministry.
The Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, Indian Ambassador to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria and Border Security Force DG Rajnikant Mishra were present at the meeting.
“The land acquisition for corridor was discussed and Punjab Chief Secretary has assured that the acquisition of land will be done at earliest and Indian Ambassador also updated the steps being taken by the Pakistan Government on their side”, the Home Ministry sources said.
The DG BSF and Intelligence Bureau officials briefed about the rising security concerns and roadmap for giving safe passage to the Kartarpur Sahib corridor and both BSF and Intelligence Bureau will handle the security concern, the source added.
“Talks with intelligence agencies are on to formulate the Standard operative Procedure (SoP) that will address the security concern arising out of this proposed passage”, the DG BSF said after the meeting to media.
The Indian side of Corridor will start from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district and extends up to International border. The project corridor is to be developed by the National Highways Authority of India and will be funded by the Centre. The project corridor is four-lane with service road and all other appropriate amenities for pilgrims intending to visit Gurudwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur in Pakistan.
Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan is located across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab's Gurdaspur district. It was established by the Sikh Guru in 1522. The first Gurdwara, Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, was built here, where Guru Nanak Dev is said to have died. The corridor, once built, will give Indian pilgrims easy access to the shrine and boost the tourism in the region.