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.
With this, Kuljit Singh Nagra joined a list of Congress leaders who have resigned from party posts over the last few days in solidarity with Rahul Gandhi.
The accused, identified as Deepak, suspected to be under the influence of alcohol, slit the throat of his mother with a kitchen knife following a quarrel, police said.
The accused, identified as Prabhjot Singh, 25 and Sukhdev Singh, 19, were arrested while a third person, Inderjeet, who had brought the pistol used to commit the crime, has been on the run, they said.
Rejecting as totally inadequate the new proposed 60:40 fund-sharing pattern of the Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry for the SC Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has demanded restoration of the old sharing scheme, under which states had to finance about 10% only.
At least 29 passengers were killed and 17 injured when a Delhi-bound UPSRTC Janrath bus fell into a water-filled nullah along the Yamuna Expressway in Agra, UP, early on Monday morning.
