Koshur Samachar

ISLAMABAD, Feb 19:  The official governing body of the Kartarpur Gurdwara has decided to expedite the restoration of the Sikh religious place, which was affected by the floods last year.

The eighth meeting of the Governing Council of the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur was held on Wednesday at the Ministry of Religious Affairs under the chairmanship of Secretary Religious Affairs, Sajid Chauhan.

According to an official statement, the council reviewed “repair and rehabilitation work necessitated by recent flooding, attributed to Indian water aggression, which affected parts of the corridor project”.

“It was decided that damaged portions of the flood hit corridor would be restored on an urgent basis,” the statement read.

To accelerate rehabilitation efforts, the council resolved to reconvene within two weeks to assess progress and ensure timely completion of the works, it added.

Addressing the meeting, Chauhan said the Kartarpur Corridor project stood as a symbol of humanitarian values and interfaith harmony and reiterated the government’s “commitment to ensuring the provision of the best possible facilities to visiting Sikh yatrees and devotees”.

Punjab Minister for Minority Affairs Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora attended the meeting in his capacity as Pardhan of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

Arora said that both the federal and Punjab governments were making concerted efforts to extend warm hospitality and seamless services to Sikh yatrees.

Representatives from the ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Defence, Law and Justice, Information and Broadcasting, as well as the Planning Commission, Frontier Works Organisation and Punjab Home Department participated in the session.

Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara is located in Pakistan’s Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India. It is the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev, who had spent the last 18 years of his life in Kartarpur.  (PTI)