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Pakistan will allot 42 acres of land for the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, up 14 times, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab has announced, while indicating that 80 percent of the work on the landmark Kartarpur Corridor has been completed, according to a media report.
The corridor will connect Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district and facilitate visa-free movement of Indian Sikh pilgrims, who will have to just obtain a permit to visit Kartarpur Sahib, which was established in 1522 by Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak Dev.
Pakistan’s Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar on Tuesday, 16 July, announced increasing the land allotted for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur from three acres to 42 acres and further said that any kind of construction will not be done on the land, which remained under cultivation of Guru Nanak, PTI quoted a report in The News as saying.
"We want to convey this message to the Sikh brethren living all over the world that there will be no cut in land for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur and Guru Nanak, rather 42 acres land has been allocated for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib and 62 acres for cultivation," Sarwar said during his visit to the corridor to review the pace of work on the project.
"In this way, total land for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib will be 104 acres," he said.
The governor, who also heads the committee for religious tourism and heritage, said the total land for Kartarpur Corridor will be 408 acres.
He also hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the inaugural ceremony of Kartarpur Corridor, the report added.
He said it was a "good omen" that second round of talks between Pakistan and India on the Kartarpur Corridor remained successful.
He further said special transport would be provided from check-point to Darbar Sahib to the Indian Sikh pilgrims visiting this holy place. He said construction of three langar khanas was under way at Darbar Sahib where Sikh pilgrims would be provided quality meal and other facilities, the report added.
The pilgrims coming from India would have to return from Kartarpur in the given time and the ones coming from the UK, the US and other countries on valid visas would be granted permission to stay and houses are being built for them, it added.
Pakistan is building the corridor from the Indian border to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib while the other part from Dera Baba Nanak up to the border will be constructed by India.
The Gurudwara is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had, on 26 November 2018, laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur Corridor in Gurdaspur district.
Two days later, Pakistan Prime Minister Khan laid the foundation stone of the corridor in Narowal, 125 km from Lahore.
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