Rain leaves a trail of mess in Dera Baba Nanak tent city built at ₹4.2-cr
AMRITSAR : Incessant rain on Thursday left the Rs 4.2-crore tent city at Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur in a mess, submerging the mats rolled out in the entire area under water and mud.
The makeshift city has been set up by the Punjab government to accommodate pilgrims who will take part in the celebrations of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. The five-day Dera Baba Nanak Utsav is scheduled to be organised from November 8 to 12.
The rain started at around 10 am on Thursday and continued till the filing of this report in the evening. The rain also sullied the parking area badly.
The tent city, spread over 150 acres, comprises a large pandal several residential camps, besides a parking facility. The pandal can accommodate 30,000 pilgrims expected to converge here every day.
“The rain has left the entire tent city in a mess. It has now been rendered useless for at least three days as the water and mud accumulated in the area cannot be removed easily. To make the matters worse, the rain is still not stopping,” said Perneet Singh Bedi, the president of the local municipal council.
He said, “After the rain, the entire area has turned into a marsh. Three cars in the parking area were stuck in the mud. We used tractors to take them out. We are in a fix how to manage the affairs on Friday.”
He added: “Though the tents are waterproof, there is no arrangement to remove the accumulated rainwater. Some tents were also torn in the rain.”
Baba Sukhdeep Singh Bedi, one of the decedents of Guru Nanak, said, “The Punjab government had made elaborate arrangements for the pilgrims, but the rain has upset everything.
It would be difficult for the administration to manage everything in a short duration as the functions are around the corner.”
CALLED EMERGENCY MEETING, SAYS ADMN
Dera Baba Nanak sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Gursimran Singh Dhillon said they have called an emergency meeting of officials to cope with the situation.
“We will make all-out efforts to resolve the issue,” he added.
The historic town of Dera Baba Nanak is the second hub of the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak after Sultanpur Lodhi and the state government has planned weeklong religious and other functions here.
In Dera Baba Nanak, Guru Nanak came to meet his family in 1515 after the completion of his first ‘udasi’ (journey). It is the beginning point of the Kartarpur Corridor on the Indian side that will take the Indian pilgrims to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan, the last resting place of the Guru.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the corridor on November 9 (Saturday).