Badal and Amarinder hail New Delhi’s move

Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal yesterday welcomed the initiative of the NDA government to build and develop a modern and state-of-the-art corridor to facilitate pilgrims to offer prayers at the Kartarpur Gurdwara in Pakistan where the first Sikh guru, Nanak Dev, spent the last 18 years of his life.

“This is indeed a befitting tribute to the great Guru Nanak Devji’s vision transcending all kinds of barriers among human beings of different castes, creeds and countries,” Badal, who has been Punjab chief minister five times, said in a statement.

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Badal said: “This is their historic and unprecedented tribute to the Sikh sentiments.”

Yesterday the Union cabinet had approved construction and development of Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to the international border with Pakistan.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also welcomed the centre’s decision to celebrate the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. “The move would facilitate lakhs of pilgrims desirous of visiting the Kartarpur gurdwara. Hoping that the Pakistan government would also supplement the effort by opening the corridor on its side of the boundary,” Amarinder said in a statement.