Hindustan Times : Aug 07, 2019, 05:09 PM
Construction of the Kartarpur corridor, a joint project undertaken by India and Pakistan, was still underway on Tuesday despite tensions flaring anew between the two neighbours over India’s move to scrap articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and reserved government jobs and property ownership for permanent residents of the state.No impact was witnessed on construction sites on Tuesday on either side of the international border at Dera Baba Nanak, a small town along the border in Gurdaspur district, from where the corridor is being built to provide Indian devotees access to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur, final resting place of Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith.Both countries have already announced plans to open the corridor on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanakin November. Construction work on the terminal and highway is in full swing on the Indian side. On the Pakistan side, movement of construction vehicles and machines was normal Tuesday.“The construction is going on at the same pace and we will not let this project, a long-pending demand of the Sikh community, be affected by any kind of tension between India and Pakistan,” said Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, the Punjab minister of cooperation and jails and the MLA from Dera Baba Nanak.About 60% of work on the project has been completed, according to representatives of the construction company that has the contract for the project.