Kartarpur corridor will fast-track area economy

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Dera Baba Nanak, August 30

The Kartarpur corridor will not only catapult the township of Dera Baba Nanak to global fame but will also bring in an economic resurgence in the area which was virtually devastated due to heavy migration of locals in the aftermath of the 1965 and 1971 wars and also during the eighties when terrorism was at its peak.

Before the Partition, the city was considered to be a vibrant business centre. Post 1947, the town, considered to be one of the most sacred places of the Sikhs, was converted into a ghost entity with its population, at one time, coming down to just 8,000. Now this trend stands to be reversed with the corridor all set to bring in its wake massive development initiatives on the agriculture, transport, tourism and hospitality fronts.

A new bus stand was on Thursday inaugurated by Cabinet minister and local MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on the town’s outskirts. Government offices and business establishments, including meat shops, are in the process of being moved outside the town.

Sources claimed that the rates of farm land near the corridor and at almost all commercial places in the town had skyrocketed. Hoteliers, having base in Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai, are making a beeline for the town.

“If the Pakistan government accedes to India’s request of letting 5,000 devotees cross over daily, it will mean that at least 15,000 to 20,000 people will arrive in the town every day. This means that hundreds of local youth, who right now are in the grip of drugs, will get employment. Once the corridor gets operational and tension over Article 370 subsides, scores of hotels and allied businesses will come up. The place will be known world over for being a religo-tourism centre. Experts tell me that the transport, tourism and cottage industry sectors will see a boom,” said Randhawa.

Sources said the under-construction integrated check post, “an airport-like structure” coming up on 50 acres, has already opened up innumerable job opportunities for the locals. “Like a majority of cities that came up in the vicinity of railway stations built during the British era, Dera Baba Nanak and its adjoining towns, too, will see unprecedented growth,” said Jarnail Singh Sidhu, a local.

Developmental projects are being regulated by the Dera Baba Nanak Development Authority (DBNDA), headed by the CM. Already, the DBNDA has taken into its fold the city and 13 nearby villages.

“I consider the corridor to be the sanctum sanctorum while Dera Baba Nanak is the Darshani Deodi. Obviously, all development will occur in the Darshani Deodi and not anywhere else,” said Randhawa.

“The corridor will forever change the way people look at the town. Change is the essence of growth and the changes brought in by the corridor are sure to send the economic growth into an upward spiral,” he added.