Racing against time, workers are doing three shifts a day tocomplete the Indian part of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor that will enablepilgrims from here to visit the revered Sikh shrine in Pakistan.
Construction of around 4.2 km-long corridor is targeted tobe completed by October 31, a week before the celebrations to mark the 550thbirth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
The gurdwara is located in Narowal district of Pakistan’sPunjab province, near Dera Baba Nanak town in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district. Itis a highly revered Sikh shrine where Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev spent 18years of his life and is his final resting place.
About 60 per cent work of the four-lane highway with service lanes on both sides has been completed, an official said.
The corridor is intended to enable 5,000 Indian pilgrims topay their obeisance daily at the revered Sikh shrine
Project implementation is “progressing withspeed”, the official said.
The entire corridor would cost approximately Rs 500 crore.
Sixty-two acres of land have been acquired in Punjab for theproject at the rate of Rs 42 lakh per acre. Besides, civil works of Rs 90 croreare also under progress.
Fifty acres of additional land is also being acquired forthe construction of an Integrated Check Post by the Land Port Authority ofIndia.
“Of the eight culverts proposed on the corridor, sevenhave been completed,” he said.
Devotees, especially the Sikhs, have been demanding for over70 years a visa-free “khule darshan” (free obeisance facility) at thegurdwara for all faiths, from India and overseas, all seven days a week.
The proposal to open the corridor, first mooted 20 yearsback, saw progress last year when Pakistan agreed to go ahead with it.Subsequently, foundation stones were laid for the project on Indian andPakistan sides in November last year.
On the Indian side, the foundation stone was laid by VicePresident M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh onNovember 26.
On the Pakistani side, the foundation stone was laid byPrime Minister Imran Khan and Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa on November 28.
The two countries have also held a series of discussions onmodalities for operationalising the project. The last one was held on July 14,when agreement was reached on almost all issues.
For India, there is a concern over the possible flooding ofthe Dera Baba Nanak and adjoining areas on the Indian side as a result ofearth-filled embankment road or a causeway that is proposed to be built byPakistan on their side.
Officials said the Indian delegation, at the last meeting,shared detailed flood analysis with Pakistan to underscore these concerns. AndPakistan agreed to build a bridge at the earliest.
Keeping in view the heavy movement of pilgrims, all approachroads to Dera Baba Nanak from Batala, Fatehgarh Churian and Ramdas are alsobeing upgraded, a senior state government official said.
According to him, three technical meetings between both thesides were held to streamline priorities over the corridor laying.