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. 

Sharing the visuals of the proposed structure in the Indian side, Sukhbir said that Pakistan also proposed to restrict this facility for only Indian nationals and People of Indian Origin (NRIs) cannot access it. 

Describing the cap on the number of devotees and permit fee as “unreasonable”, Sukhbir urged the Pakistan Government to “have a large heart”.  

“The Pakistan Government should waive the permit and entry fee for devotees and allow entry of 5,000 devotees on normal days and 15,000 on special days,” he demanded.

At the same time, Sukhbir also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for speedy construction of the Kartarpur corridor. “The Union Government has expeditiously started work on a world class and state-of-the-art passenger terminal building complex as well as an all-weather bridge on the Ravi river to facilitate unrestricted and easy flow of pilgrims,” he said.

As much as 50 acres of land had been acquired for project works worth Rs 290 crore. “The passenger terminal building will be completed by October this year and national highway connecting zero point will be completed by September this year,” he said.

Expressing dismay over the construction of a causeway by Pakistan instead of a bridge for the Kartarpur Corridor, he said: “It is unfortunate that the Pakistan Government is indulging in double speak.”

“Pakistan is mouthing platitudes about the work it is taking up to make the Kartarpur corridor a reality, but the fact is that it is constructing a mere causeway on its side instead of a 320-metre bridge,” he said.