Sidhu writes to PM Modi and Imran Khan, suggests only foot movement be allowed at Kartarpur corridor

AMRITSAR: Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan PM Imran Khan suggesting that construction of concrete structures on both sides - at Kartarpur Sahib, Pakistan and Dera Baba Nanak, India - should be avoided and only foot movement through the corridor should be allowed.

The Punjab minister, in his letter, suggested that only foot movement be allowed through the corridor with exemption only for elderly, disabled or sick devotees.

Sidhu, in his letters written to PM Modi and Imran Khan, also urged that the religious sites of Sikh Guru Nanak Dev should be declared as 'Heritage Villages'.



The Punjab minister has said that the local lands should be used for organic cultivation of food crops to be serve in the langar to the devotees in both the Gurdwaras.

He has also suggested to encourage local and traditional artefacts by allowing them for sale in the local bazars around the area. “We can turn away from any form of shopping complexes that sell fast food or utilise plastic wares and we can welcome folk art and the music of Rabbi’s and folklorists,“ he wrote.

"We must plan and carefully execute waste disposal. Garbage from the use of plastic bags, bottles, styrofoam and packaged foods has no place," he said in the letter.

In his letter, Sidhu said, "Baba Nanak's corridor opens the way to a sacred pilgrimage. We have a duty to devote ourselves to its future as well as its past."

Sidhu has written the letters a day after US businessmen Jasdeep Singh Jassi visited Nankana Sahib and announced to develop religious tourism in Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur Sahib by way of constructing hotels and raising other tourism infrastructure.

In August, 2018, Sidhu had gone to attend the oath taking ceremony of Imran Khan where he had also met Pakistan army chief General Qamar Bajwa who had hugged him and informed that Pakistan was willing to open Kartarpur Corridor which triggered a controversy.