Work on Kartarpur to start on Monday

NEW DELHI: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will build the recently announced kartarpur Corridor up to International border in Punjab. The highways ministry on Saturday said it will be a four-lane highway with service roads and other facilities for pilgrims intending to visit Gurudwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur in Pakistan.

In a release, the ministry said vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu will lay the foundation stone for the construction of Dera Baba Nanak-Kartarpur Sahib road Corridor on Monday. Highways minister Nitin Gadkari and Punjab chief minister Amrinder Singh will also attend the meeting at village Mann in Gurdaspur district.

The Indian side of Corridor starts from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district and extends upto International border between India and Pakistan. “This corridor will be a historical landmark between India and Pakistan and will also boost tourism as more pilgrims would visit the holy shrine throughout the year between two countries,” the ministry said.

Guru Nanak Dev had assembled the Sikh community at Kartarpur and lived there for 18 years till 1539. The Gurudwara Darbar Sahib is built where Guru Nanak took his last breath.

To mark 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak in 2019, the government on Thursday had announced to build the Kartarpur Corridor as an integrated development project. The Corridor will let Sikh pilgrims visit the iconic Gurudwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur on the banks of river Ravi in Pakistan.