Following the investment controversies in the construction of the Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free crossing from India to Pakistan for religious purposes, the Ministries of Finance and Tourism have clarified that no private company or individual funded the project.
Kartarpur – Corridor was inaugurated in 2019. Costing around USD 88 million, it was solely built by Pakistan, primarily using government funding. The Pakistan government, under former Prime Minister Imran Khan, had passed a special budget allocation in the federal budget 2019-20 for the construction of the Kartarpur Corridor.
Many sources close to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Tourism Pakistan made it clear that no funding from any other supporters was used in construction, and the structure was entirely built using Government funds.
The sources clarified that some individuals claim to have donated huge amounts for the construction and upliftment of the structure; however, no funding was ever received or utilized for the Kartarpur Corridor.
On November 9, 2019, the Kartarpur Corridor officially opened for pilgrimage, and the first group of Indian visitors made their way to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan. This comes after the notion was originally proposed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who served as Prime Minister approximately 20 years ago.
As part of his endeavour to promote peace with Pakistan, he devised the idea for the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor as he was riding a bus to Lahore.
On November 9, 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan opened the Kartarpur Corridor as a gift for Baba Guru Nanak Dev Jee’s 550th birthday party. Pakistan and India have an MOU describing how the Kartarpur Corridor should work. Every day, 5,000 Indian yatrees can enter from the Indian side, but that number can go up to 15,000 on special occasions. A fee of US $20 is charged for Indian devotees entering through the Kartarpur Corridor.
Baba Guru Nanak spent his last 18 years at Kartarpur Sahib. When Baba Guru Nanak went to heaven on September 22, 1539, it was the first time that Samadhi and Mazaar were set up.
Kartarpur Sahib is where thousands of people who follow Baba Guru Nanak go daily to pay their respects. Guru Nanak built the first Gurdwara in 1515, but floods on the river Ravi destroyed it. The current building was made by the Maharaja of Patiala in the 1800s. When India and Pakistan split up in 1947, a larger Sikh community moved to India, and Gurdwara was empty.
In 2004, ETPB and PSGPC fixed and maintained the Gurdwara so Sikh yatrees could use it again. Since 2004, all religious ceremonies for the Sikh community have been held at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. But in 2019, when former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan opened the Kartarpur Corridor on November 9, the dream of the Kartarpur corridor became a reality.
