Chandigarh, January 15: Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Tuesday held a meeting with Chief Secretary of Punjab, DG, Intelligence, DG, BSF, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria and NHAI officials to discuss modalities of the Kartarpur corridor.
According to sources, land acquisition, biometric data of pilgrims, online registration process were among some key issues discussed. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs is working with all stakeholders concerned in Punjab and the Centre. A meeting is likely to be proposed by India to discuss bilateral formalities later this month with the Pakistani authorities.
Earlier on Monday, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had sought waiver of the passport condition for pilgrims to cross the Kartarpur corridor.
The Chief Minister said he has asked the Modi government to quickly finalise the alignment of the road access and attendant government infrastructure to be built around the corridor so that the process of acquisition may be started without any delay to ensure early operationalisation of the corridor.
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He has also written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, requesting that the condition of mandatory passport for devotees seeking to cross the corridor be waived to facilitate the pilgrimage to the historic gurdwara located in the Pakistani territory. A simple procedure to facilitate movement of pilgrims has been sought.
The Centre has been suggested that any other valid government document, such as Aadhaar card, may be used in place of passport for identification to enable maximum pilgrims to visit the gurdwara.
Putting in place adequate infrastructure to handle rush of pilgrims and provision for both day-to-day prayers and “akhand and sehaj paths” have been suggested by the Chief Minister in his communication to the Centre.
The issue of Kartarpur corridor has been in discussion for a long time without any solution.
