india

Updated: Jan 22, 2019 08:58 IST

The Punjab government has handed over to the Union home ministry a list of owners, whose land has been identified for acquisition for the Kartarpur corridor, according to officials aware of the development. The corridor is being built for visa-free access to Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit their holy places in Pakistan.

Vice president M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh had on November 26 laid the foundation stone for the corridor from Punjab’s Dera Baba Nanak to the border with Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan presided over the groundbreaking ceremony of the crossing on the Pakistani side two days later.

The officials said 60-acre land has been identified for acquisition in Dera Baba Nanak and 100 acres in the nearby Kalanaur town. The land would be acquired in three villages of Dera Baba Nanak near the India-Pakistan border. The land in Kalanaur is being acquired for a battalion of Border Security Force, which would be deployed for security of the corridor on the Indian side.

India and Pakistan announced the opening of the corridor ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of Sikhism’s founder, Guru Nanak, this year. Pakistan government has set a deadline for completing work for it by September.

Guru Nanak lived the last 18 years of his life in Kartarpur, which is located in Pakistan, four kilometers from Indian border.

Punjab minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said Gurdaspur’s deputy commissioner, Vipan Ujjwal, has been authorised to start the land acquisition under the National Highway Act.

The Union home ministry will provide funds for land acquisition and a district level committee will fix the cost at which the land would be acquired. “All pre-processes of land identification are complete and the notification for the acquisition will be issued this week,” said Ujjwal.

“We would shortly pass on khasra numbers and girdawari details of the owners, who own the land identified for acquisition,” said Randhawa.

As per the proposal, 30 acres of land will go for the road corridor and parking and rest for offices to facilitate the passage of pilgrims.

Punjab’s housing and urban development minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa said the state has constituted the Dera Baba Nanak Development Authority to develop 13 villages around the corridor.