india

Updated: Mar 19, 2019 13:07 IST

India on Monday started construction work on the integrated check post (ICP) at Dera Baba Nanak as part of the proposed corridor which will give access to Sikh pilgrims from the country to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in neighbouring Pakistan.

A team of the Land Port Authority of India (LPAI) led by Attari integrated check post manager Sukhdev Singh and Dera Baba Nanak sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Gursimran Singh Dhillon, who is also the competent authority to acquire farmland for the corridor, visited the site on Monday.

Sukhdev Singh said, “On Tuesday, technical teams from India and Pakistan will visit the zero line at the border to draft the modalities for the construction of the corridor. The ICP will have adequate immigration and customs clearance facilities to process the smooth movement of nearly 5,000 pilgrims per day.”

LPAI officials said the corridor ICP will have a unique design in line with other check posts in the country.

Earlier, the SDM held a meeting with local farmers whose land is to be acquired for the corridor and claimed they agreed in-principle for starting the work. “The ICP will be constructed on 50 acres and the work will be completed before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the first Sikh master,” he said.

The SDM said, “Though their land has not been acquired yet, the farmers have voluntarily given the possession of their land to LPAI. I informed them about the land acquisition rates fixed by the government, to which they agreed.”

He said the government will give ₹25 lakh per acre compensation.

This comes three days after delegations from the two countries met at Attari in Amritsar to discuss the draft agreement for the corridor. As per some media reports, Pakistan has completed more than 40 per cent work on the corridor on its side.