Kartarpur Corridor: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu to lay foundation stone at Mann village in Gurdaspur today

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu will lay the foundation stone for the construction of Dera Baba Nanak-Kartarpur Sahib Corridor up to the international border with Pakistan in Mann village in Gurdaspur on Monday. Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will also be present on the occasion.

To mark Guru Nanak Dev Ji's 550th birth anniversary in 2019, the Indian government decided on November 22, 2018, to build the Kartarpur road corridor up to the international border between India and Pakistan as an integrated development project. Guru Nanak had assembled the Sikh community at Kartarpur and lived there for 18 years till he breathed his last in 1539.

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The corridor will let Sikh pilgrims visit the iconic Gurudwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur on the banks of river Ravi in the Narowal district of Pakistan.

On November 22, the Cabinet approved the building and development of the Kartarpur corridor. Both India and Pakistan had announced on November 15, 2018, that they will build corridors on their respective sides to let Sikh pilgrims visit the holy shrine without a visa and to help them walk across and come back without having to secure a visa. The project with all modern amenities and facilities will be implemented with the central government funding.

"Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu, will lay the foundation stone for the construction of Dera Baba Nanak-Kartarpur Sahib road corridor (up to international border) at a function in village Mann in Gurdaspur district of Punjab on Monday, the 26th of November, 2018," a Road Transport Ministry statement said.

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The Indian side of corridor starts from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district and extends up to the international border between India and Pakistan. The project corridor is to be developed by the National Highways Authority of India and will be funded by the Government of India. The project corridor is four-lane with service road and all other appropriate amenities for pilgrims intending to visit Gurudwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur in 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 statement said.