Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar on Tuesday announced to increase the land for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur from three acres to 42 acres, while further announcing not to do any kind of commercial construction on the land which remained under cultivation of Baba Guru Nanak during his last days spent in Kartarpur.
He made these announcements while briefing the media during his visit to the Kartarpur Corridor on Tuesday. He was of the view that total land for Kartarpur Corridor would be 408 acres after its completion. Sarwar inspected the pace of development work on Gurdwara Darbar Sahib and Kartarpur Corridor for more than an hour and lauded the performance of FWO and other departments working on the site. “We also want Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to participate in the inaugural ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor,” he said. “The FWO and other departments have completed the work on the corridor in months which otherwise would have taken years to complete,” he maintained. He said that Pakistan would complete work on the corridor in its territory during the month of October this year before the 550th birthday celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak.
He was of the view that 5,000 Sikh pilgrims having valid visas would also be able to stay in Kartarpur. He made it clear that the Sikh pilgrims coming from India would have to return from Kartarpur in the given time. The governor said that 80 percent work on the Kartarpur Corridor had been completed as per vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said that it was a good omen that the second round of talks between Pakistan and India on the Kartarpur Corridor remained successful. He hoped that India would also complete development work on Kartarpur Corridor on its side within the given timeframe. He said three acres of land was allocated under the Kartarpur Corridor project for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur but “we have decided to increase it”. “We want to give a message to the Sikhs residing all over the world that no cut will be made in land for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur and Baba Guru Nanak,” he said, adding that 42 acres of land had also been allocated for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib and 62 acres for cultivation. In this way, the total land for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib would be 104 acres, he added.
Sarwar further said that special transport would be provided from the checkpoint to Darbar Sahib to those Sikh pilgrims coming from India. “Work is underway at three lungar khanas at Darbar Sahib where the Sikh pilgrims will be provided quality meal and other facilities,” he said. The governor further said that the Sikh pilgrims coming from the UK, USA and other countries on valid visas would be granted permission to stay here and residences were being built for them. He said 5,000 Sikh pilgrims would be able to stay in at the residences at a time.
To a question, he said that the Religious Tourism and Heritage Committee headed by him was making efforts for promotion of tourism in country as per the vision of Imran Khan. Four federal ministers, including federal minister for religious affairs, three provincial ministers and officers of relevant departments were also part of the committee, he added. “God willing, we will generate $4 billion to $5 billion through religious tourism as Pakistan has huge potential for the religious tourism,” the governor said.
The initiative on Kartarpur Corridor was taken last year by Pakistan in November at the 549th birthday of Baba Guru Nanak and both the countries have held two rounds of talks on the corridor since then. The governor was informed that 72 booths of immigration would be established in Pakistan for the facilitation of Sikh pilgrims at Kartarpur.
FWO Project Director Brigadier Atif, NESPAK officers and officials of other departments briefed the governor. Gujranwala Commissioner, Narowal DC, Narowal DPO, Gujranwala RPO Tariq Qureshi, WCLA DG Kamran Lashari and others were also present on the occasion.
