Chandigarh: East Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, in view of the improvement in the Covid situation, to facilitate people to visit the historic Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in West Punjab in Pakistan.
It is notable that Pakistan had reopened the Kartarpur Sahib corridor on June 29, 2020 but the corridor remains closed from the Indian side.
In a letter to Narendra Modi, Amarinder Singh said his government would be happy to work in conjunction with the Government of India to ensure adherence to proper Covid-19 protocols, including testing and vaccination of Sikh yatris using the Corridor. He hoped for a positive consideration by Indian Prime Minister in this regard.
East Punjab CM pointed out that the movement of devotees to Kartarpur Sahib through the Corridor was suspended in March 2020 due to the Covid outbreak. “The Covid-19 situation in Punjab has shown signs of significant improvement in the past one month and I am happy to share that yesterday, no Covid-19 related death was reported, after almost a period of one year,” he wrote. He said that in the changed scenario, the people have obviously again evinced their desire to have darshan at Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur Sahib.
He further said that “we have been fortunate that the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor was opened on the auspicious occasion of the 550th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji in November 2019. “It helped fulfil the long-standing demand of “khulle darshan deedar” of the historic Gurudwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur, located just across the international border in Pakistan,” he added.