Pakistan today said it will charge an entry fee of $20 from pilgrims who are coming to Kartarpur on the opening day of the corridor on Saturday. It is a sudden change from the waiver that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on November 1, when he said no fee would be charged on the inauguration day and on the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the corridor in Gurdaspur on Saturday morning, while Mr Khan will declare it open from the other end.
India had objected to the $20 service charge that Pakistan had said it would impose on Sikh pilgrims. Disagreement over the issue even led to a delay in launching online registration for pilgrims intending to visit the shrine.
The Kartarpur corridor will connect the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab with Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, just 4 km from the International Border, located at Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
It is the place where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, is believed to have spent the last 18 years of his life.
