Govt will complete Kartarpur Corridor on time: Khusro Bakhtiar

Author: inp

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar said on Friday that the incumbent government had taken a major initiative last year by announcing the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor to provide access to Sikh pilgrims to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib on the request of Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Bakhtiar was chairing a meeting on development of Gurdwara Kartarpur Corridor in Islamabad on Friday.

Planning Secretary Zafar Hasan, the Religious Affairs secretary, FWO Director General Maj Gen Inam Haider Malik, Planning Commission members, the Gujranwala commissioner, representatives from NESPAK and other officials of the ministry were also present.

He said that the government was committed to timely completion of the corridor which would provide easy access to Sikhs besides promoting religious tourism.

Prime Minister had performed the ground breaking of the Corridor on November 28, 2018. “He will inaugurate the corridor in November this year,” he said.

Bakhtiar said that the gesture shown by Pakistan reflected its resolve to promote peace in the region and maintain cordial relations with all neighbours including India. He underscored that the corridor would be developed in stipulated time so that the Sikh devotees were able to perform their religious rituals on the upcoming 550th birthday celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak Dev.

During the meeting, the FWO DG gave a detailed briefing to the participants about the progress on development of the corridor, including, construction of border terminal buildings, langar khana, Gurdwara complex and a bridge. He said that technical details and designs had been shared with the Indian side and the work was in full swing. He said that all cultural, religious and social issues had been taken into consideration while developing the corridor. He said that a media visit would be arranged soon to the corridor for a briefing on its development.

The meeting decided to constitute a technical committee comprising relevant stakeholders to look into the matters of land acquisition, cost sharing mechanism and other technical issues.