ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has laid a 16,000 feet artificial turf in the courtyard of the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara to facilitate bare-footed Sikh pilgrims as temperatures rise, a Pakistani official told media on Monday.
Last November, in a sign of rare cooperation, arch-rivals India and Pakistan signed an agreement allowing Indian pilgrims visa-free access from India to the Pakistani town of Kartarpur, home to a temple that marks the site where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, died.
The 4 kilometer corridor is called the Kartarpur Corridor.
Temporarily closed due to coronavirus fears in March, the temple was reopened on June 29 with new safety protocols in place.
“AstroTurf was laid on the marble floor of the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib last week,” Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) spokesperson Amir Hashmi told the Press Trust of India, saying the 16,000 feet of artificial grass would facilitate pilgrims who had to walk, and sit, bare-foot, on the marble floor of the temple compound in the scorching heat.
Indian media said pilgrims were currently not visiting the gurdwara as India temporarily suspended the pilgrimage and registration for Kartarpur on March 16 in view of the coronavirus outbreak.
