India aims to complete its part of Kartarpur Corridor work before Pakistan: Rajnath

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that India is trying to complete its part of Kartarpur Corridor work before Pakistan.

Speaking to ANI, Rajnath said: "India will complete its part of Kartarpur Corridor work in a few days. I held a meeting with ministers to discuss the further plan of the project. I also reviewed the progress of ongoing work of Kartarpur Corridor. The government is trying its best to finish the project before Pakistan."

"We are getting full support from the Punjab government and I have asked the authorities to handle it well in a time-bound manner," he added.

The Indian government on the eve of Guru Purab on November 22 last year approved the construction of Kartarpur Corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to the India-Pakistan international border. Pakistan government had also announced to open the corridor next year.

The Kartarpur route along India-Pakistan border is three kilometres away from Gurdaspur in Punjab. Once functional, the corridor would allow Sikh pilgrims direct access to the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan, where Guru Nanak died in 1539.

On November 26 last year, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu had presided over the foundation stone laying ceremony of the corridor at Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab.

Two days later on November 28, 2018, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan too laid the foundation stone of Kartarpur Corridor along India-Pakistan border in Lahore. It is said that Guru Nanak Devji spent the last 18 years of his life at the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur.