ISLAMABAD - The government has allocated Rs 1000 million for the land acquisition and development of infrastructure in Kartarpur corridor in the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) 2019-20. Last year, the government announced the opening of four-kilometre-long visa-free corridor on Kartarpura, Narowal, Punjab, to provide easy access to Sikh pilgrims from India, In the first phase, scheduled to be completed till November 2019, a boarding terminal has been planned near the border. Pilgrims will be transported to the gurdwara, through an 800-metre-long bridge, which has to be built across the River Ravi. Accommodation facility of up to 10,000 pilgrims will also be built in the first phase.
In the second phase, hotels and other housing facilities will be constructed for pilgrims. Despite Pakistan’s sincere efforts the Kartarpura Corridor is at a halt after India backed off from the meeting scheduled on April 02 to finalise the construction agreement.
Last meeting held on March 14 was the first table talk between the two neighbouring countries since 2015.