Chandigarh, July 28 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reopen the Kartarpur Corridor, in view of the improvement in the Covid-19 situation, to facilitate people's visit to the historic shrine in Pakistan.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Amarinder Singh said his government would be happy to work in conjunction with the Centre to ensure adherence to proper Covid-19 protocols, including testing and vaccination of pilgrims using the corridor.
He hoped for a positive consideration by the Prime Minister in this regard.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the movement of devotees to Kartarpur through the corridor was suspended in March 2020 due to the pandemic 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 in the changed scenario, the people have obviously again evinced their desire to have 'darshan' at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur.
The Chief Minister further said that "we have been fortunate that the Kartarpur Corridor was opened on the auspicious occasion of the 550th Prakash Purab of Guru Nanak Dev in November 2019".
It helped fulfill the long-standing demand of "khulle darshan deedar" of the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur, located just across the international border in Pakistan, he added.
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Shekhwat said Pakistan cannot interfere in a matter which is purely an internal issue of India. "The steps being taken by the government do not break any treaty," he said.
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Sukhjinder Randhawa also said a Punjab government's delegation is awaiting the Centre's nod to visit Pakistan later this month to assess the progress of the Kartarpur Corridor project.
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