Govt developing highway stretches to facilitate hassle-free access to Dera Baba Nanak

The government has included three road network sections for development to facilitate hassle-free access to Dera Baba Nanak from Amritsar and other districts, Parliament was informed Thursday.

The road networks for development include Ramdas-Gurdaspur stretch, Amritsar-Pathankot section on NH 15 and Kartarpur corridor connecting zero-point at international border to National Highway 354, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Three "sections in the road network have been included for development of hassle-free access to Dera Baba Nanak from Amritsar and other districts," Gadkari said.

The stretches for development are "Ramdas-Gurdaspur section (47.492 km) under Bharatmala scheme; connection of existing four lane section of Amritsar-Pathankot on NH 15 through Batala bypass, and Kartarpur corridor connecting zero-point at international border to existing NH 354".

Earlier this week on Tuesday Pakistan and India decided to hold the second meeting to discuss the draft agreement for finalising the modalities of the Kartarpur corridor and related technical issues on July 14 in Wagah.

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 had said it was committed to expedite progress on the matter to ensure that the corridor is operationalised in time for the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev in November 2019.

India had proposed talks between July 11-14.