Nearly two months after the Central Government gave its go-ahead to give access to Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara in Pakistan, a high level meeting comprising officials from the Centre and the State Governments was held on Tuesday to discuss the modalities concerning the construction of the corridor.

Presided over by the Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, the meeting was attended by Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, and the state DGP (Intelligence) Dinkar Gupta representing the state government. Besides, Border Security Force (BSF) Director General RK Mishra, the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria, and the officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) were also present in the meeting.

Sources informed The Pioneer that the issue of land acquisition on the Indian side of the corridor was discussed in detail during the meeting that lasted for about 45 minutes.

The State Government is awaiting approval from the Central Government to initiate the process for land acquisition. The process would only be started after the Centre sends the details about the khasra numbers of the land proposed for acquisition to the State.

A day before, the Punjab Government had also held a detailed meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, to discuss the  corridor issue in view of the Tuesday’s meeting.

During the meeting, discussions were held to ensure coordination with the Central Government authorities to complete the land acquisition process and the corridor construction at the earliest, primarily before the 550th birth anniversary of Sikh’s first master Guru Nanak Dev in November this year.

Already, the Punjab Government had submitted with the Central Government its plan for the alignment of its proposed corridor on Indian side.

Notably, the Union Home Ministry is the nodal Ministry for coordinating with the concerned authorities, including the Local Government, while the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is the nodal Ministry for building and development of the corridor on the Indian side.

It has been learnt that India is likely to propose a formal meeting on the Kartarpur corridor to Pakistan soon.

The Union Cabinet on November 22 had approved the building of Kartarpur Corridor on the Indian side from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab till the border. On the same day, India informed Pakistan its decision to build Kartarpur Corridor and urged Islamabad to develop a corridor in its territory from the International Border to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu laid the foundation stone for the corridor on the Indian side on November 26, while Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone on November 28 on its side of the border.