Simplify process to visit Sri Kartarpur Sahib, Punjab CM urges India, Pak
Darpan News Desk IANS, 18 Nov, 2021 02:03 PM
Dera Baba Nanak (Punjab), Nov 18 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday urged the national governments of India and Pakistan to simplify the procedure for obtaining permission to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib.
The Chief Minister, while interacting with the media after returning from Sri Kartarpur Sahib, said this is a historic occasion as the corridor has been reopened after the pandemic.
However, he said that it is the need of the hour that both the national governments of India and Pakistan should make concerted efforts for simplifying the process to enable pilgrims for obtaining permission to pay reverence at this holy shrine.
Channi said it would help facilitate the pilgrims to visit this sacred shrine thereby saving their time, money and energy.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also said the state government will soon start free buses from across the state to enable the pilgrims to pay obeisance at this sacred place.
He said these buses would ply till the corridor to facilitate pilgrims having permission to visit Sri Kartarpur Sahib.
Batting for opening of cross-border trade from Punjab borders, the Chief Minister said that both the national governments should deliberate on it to commence trade and commerce through it.
He said this will be helpful in ushering a new era of unprecedented progress and prosperity in the state. Besides, giving impetus to economic activity in the region it will also help in improving people to people contact between both the countries.
The Chief Minister also thanked the people of Pakistan and the administration for showering lots of love and affection on him and his family during their visit to Sri Kartarpur Sahib.
He also expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan for taking this historic initiative of reopening the corridor.
Channi said he had been urging the Prime Minister since long to reopen this corridor thereby cherishing longtime aspiration of Sikh 'sangat' to pay reverence at this sacred shrine.
According to sources, Amarinder Singh will convene a meeting of leaders close to him in a few days to consider the formation of his new party, which will include all the leaders of the anti-Sidhu faction.
The arrested persons have been identified as Abdul Khalid, Shriram Chaurasia, Zishan Ahmad, Vikas Kesarwani and Krishna Kumar. Inspector (Kareli) Anupam Sharma said the arrested persons had sold SIM cards to law-breakers at high prices after creating fake IDs.
The ex-CM of Punjab recalled that Rawat himself had publicly stated after meeting him that he was satisfied by his government's track record on the 2017 poll promises.
It is learnt that Channi in his first meeting with the Prime Minister after becoming chief minister of Punjab requested that the Centre take back its decision to postpone paddy procurement by 10 days. The Centre has postponed the procurement of paddy by 10 days due to rain in Punjab and Haryana. Earlier the procurement was supposed to start from October 1 but now it will start from October 11.
Scotching speculation to the contrary, former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday made it clear he was not joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but had no intention of continuing in the Congress either, which he said was going downhill with senior leaders completely ignored and not given a voice.
The meeting lasted for over two hours and the issues raised by Sidhu will be put before the Cabinet on October 4, sources in the party said.After the meeting at Punjab Bhavan, where AICC observer Harish Chaudhary was also present, both Channi and Sidhu left the meeting venue without talking to the media.
