Entry and exit point for kartarpur sahib corridor

Why in news?

• The Home Ministry has designated the Dera Baba Nanak land check post in Gurdaspur district, the exit and entry point in Punjab for visiting the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan
• It will be an authorised immigration checkpoint. In a notification, the Ministry said on Monday that anyone with valid travel documents could exit or enter through the check post.
• This move taken in pursuance of sub-rule (b) of rule 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Rules, 1950.

Important points: –

• Sikh bodies have been petitioning both the governments to build a pilgrim corridor over the border from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur to Kartarpur in the Narowal province of Pakistani Punjab.
• Kartarpur sahib is located in Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab. Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, had spent more than 18 years of his life there. The Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara is located on the banks of the Ravi river, about three-four km from the border in Pakistan.
• The plan is to complete the project by November 23, the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
• On November 26 last year, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu laid the foundation stone of the Dera Baba Nanak-Kartarpur Sahib Corridor (up to the International Border) at an event at Mann village in Gurdaspur district.
• On November 28, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the 4-km corridor on the Pakistan side, which is expected to be completed by November 2019.
• The corridor will connect the Kartarpur Gurdwara with Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district and facilitate visa-free movement of Sikh pilgrims, who will have to just obtain a permit to visit Kartarpur Sahib which shorten travel time and distance. 

(Bilateral, Culture)(TOI,NDTV)

Pic courtesy: The Tribune