Chandigarh, October 18, 2019 (Yes Punjab News)
Union Food Processing Industries minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today said it was a shame that Pakistan had decided to put profit before piety and refused to take back the $ 20 fee proposed to be charged from each pilgrim assessing the Kartarpur Corridor.
In a statement here, Mrs. Harsimrat Badal said levying such a fee amounting to disrespecting the sentiments of the Sikh Sangat which was known for its service to humanity across the world. “I join the Panth in demanding this jaziya tax be withdrawn immediately”, she added.
Mrs. Badal said lakhs of Sikhs would visit Kartarpur Sahib as part of the 550th Parkash Purb celebrations of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji. Kartarpur Sahab shud be open for all, rich or poor, in keeping with Guru Sahab’s tenets of equality for all”.
Mrs. Badal asked where was the so called goodwill if Sikhs had to pay for every brick of infrastructure in Kartarpur Sahib. She said the Pakistan government’s stubbornness in inflicting a punishing burden of Rs 1400 per person, amounting to Rs 6000 to Rs 7000 for an average of a family of five or six members as fee for offering reverence at the sacred Kartarpur Sahib shrine was aimed at defeating the sentiment in the daily Sikh ardas for “Khulle Darshan Deedar” of our sacred Gurdhams.
“This amounts to profiteering by Rs 50 to Rs 60 lakh per day from a religious pilgrimage. It conclusively exposes the Pakistan government’s hypocrisy and duplicity towards the Sikh community”, she added.
