Taking up service fee at Kartarpur Corridor: India

New delhi: The Indian government on Thursday said that it is still pursuing with Pakistan on the issue of charging Indian pilgrims $20 as a “service fee” for the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor.

The Indian government has underlined that Kartarpur Corridor is
a people-to-people initiative and a matter related to faith and religion, hence, no commercial charges should be levied under any name.

This paper had on Wednesday reported that India is negotiating hard with Pakistan to seek waiver of $20 fee for Kartarpur Sahib and this is the only factor that is holding the agreement which is all ready to be signed by the two sides as all other matters are “more or less” resolved.

The spokesperson for ministry of external affairs Raveesh Kumar on Thursday said that the agreement on Kartarpur Sahib Corridor has not yet been finalized due to the Pakistani insistence that a service fee will be charged on all devotees who want to visit Kartarpur Sahib.

“The Kartarpur Sahib Corridor is an important people-to-people initiative taken by India to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji. After several rounds of discussion with Pakistan, we have reached an agreement on all other issues, except the matter of service fee. Pakistan insists on levying a fee of USD 20 (approx. `1,420) on all pilgrims. We have urged Pakistan not to do so in the interests of devotees, and also because this is a P2P (people to people) initiative.  We hope that the Agreement can be concluded and signed in time for the great event,” Mr Kumar said.

India has been constantly objecting to the $20 fee which Pakistan claims to use for the infrastructure maintenance and providing others facilities to the pilgrims at Kartarpur Sahib.  

The Indian side maintains that any amount charged is against the spirit of the goodwill that Pakistan is trying to create by opening the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor.

India also feels that this can lead to charging a higher amount from Indian pilgrims in the future.