Blaming the Pakistan Government for delaying the construction of passage to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib in its territory, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday urged the neighbouring country to remove cap on the number of devotees who pay obeisance at the Kartarpur Sahib and also demanded permit fee waiver for them.
Notably, both India and Pakistan Governments, in 2018, had agreed to construct the Kartarpur Corridor to enable devotees to pay obeisance at the historic Gurdwara in Pakistan’s Kartarpur — the final resting place of founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev.
The corridor will link the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab’s Gurdaspur with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan.
“Pakistan has put a cap on the number of devotees to 700 per day and that too for restricted number of days per year,” pointed the SAD president Sukhbir Badal while adding that the entry fee and permit costs proposed by Pakistan for pilgrims are also very high at Rs 1,600 per person on normal days and Rs 8,000 per person on special days.
