Two union ministers leave for ground-breaking ceremony of Kartarpur corridor in Pakistan

Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri left to attend the ground-breaking ceremony of Dera Baba Nanak-Kartarpur Sahib corridor in Pakistan on Wednesday.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will lay the foundation stone of the project. The event will be held at Narowal, some 120 km from Lahore.

Earlier Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu had laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor up to the International Border with Pakistan at Mann village in Gurdaspur district of Punjab on Monday.

The corridor, once built, will give Indian pilgrims easy access to the shrine. The 16th century Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of the river Ravi is important for Sikhs as Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism, spent 18 years there.

The gurudwara was established by the first Sikh Guru in 1522. It is the place where Guru Nanak Dev is said to have breathed his last.

The Union Cabinet had, last week, approved the building and development of the corridor to commemorate the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev next year.

The Kartarpur corridor will be implemented as an integrated development project with Government of India funding, to provide smooth and easy passage, with all the modern amenities.