LPAI to hold corridor inaugural event at ICP

Ravi Dhaliwal

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Tribune News Service

Dera Baba Nanak, October 30

The Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI), tasked with constructing the corridor infrastructure, was apparently forced to detach itself from the Punjab government’s Kartarpur corridor inaugural ceremony plans after a BJP team, sent by party chief Amit Shah a fortnight ago to inspect the facilities, asked the agency to factor in certain political compulsions and security considerations being faced by PM Narendra Modi.

The team expressed concerns over the choice of venue of the helipad to be used by Modi adjacent to the ICP, saying it was barely yards away from the international border. The LPAI was quick to shift the helipad 10 km away at the BSF outpost of Shikhar Masiahan.

The BSF normally asks VIPs visiting the passage not to venture too close to the zero-point for the “fear of getting in the line of sniper fire.” Zero-point is the exact place where the two borders meet and Pakistan rangers are always on guard.

According to the original plan, Modi was to land near ICP, right in front of the corridor, and was to drive to the Punjab government’s venue at the T-point, 2.5 km away. T-point is a place on the Gurdaspur-Dera Baba Nanak road from where the main road of the corridor branches off towards the ICP and then to Pakistan.

The Cooperation Department, headed by Cabinet Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, has already erected a huge tent over 25 acres at the T-point. It was here that the PM was to address a gathering before the LPAI changed the plan taking everybody by surprise. Now, Modi will drive from the helipad to the ICP where he will preside over the festivities to be held inside the premises.

After the team left, hectic confabulations were held between senior officers of the BSF, Army, LHAI and the NHAI. Later, it was decided that the PM would be accorded a formal welcome by select officers at the helipad itself. A senior official said yet another reason for LPAI’s sudden shift was speculation that former CM Parkash Singh Badal would not be allowed to sit on stage along with the PM at the Punjab Government’s event.