Railway station to be built for Sikh pilgrims in Kartarpur: Report

The Pakistan government would provide land for a railway station in Kartarpur and the construction of lodging and boarding facilities near all Sikh pilgrimage sites in the country, a media report said Thursday.

Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that the government would provide land to Sikh organisations for the construction of hotels in Kartarpur, Nankana Sahib and Narowal, Dawn reported.

It would also provide land for the construction of a railway station in Kartarpur, it said.

Ahmed was talking to reporters after seeing off Indian Sikh pilgrims who departed for Lahore through special trains after attending festivities related to the 549th birth anniversary of Sikhim's founder Guru Nanak Dev.

His remarks came as India and Pakistan decided to build a corridor, linking Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district with the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan.

India on Monday laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor and a ground-breaking ceremony would be held on the Pakistani side on Wednesday.

Ahmed said the Pakistan Railways (PR) offered 10 acres of land each in Kartarpur and Nankana Sahib and five acres of land in Narowal to Sikh organisations for five-star hotels to facilitate Sikh pilgrims.

"Trains would be run from Nankana Sahib to Kartarpur and hotels would be constructed near all Sikh pilgrimage sites," the report quoted Ahmed as saying.

Answering a question, the minister said the decision about a railway track project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor would be taken after December 25.

He also apologised to the Indian Sikh pilgrims for the inconvenience they faced due to paucity of coaches in special trains which resulted in delay of their travelling from Nankana Sahib to Panja Sahib.