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PM to flag off Nankana Sahib bus
Amritsar: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the first bus service between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib in Pakistan on March 24. The first bus will be flagged off from the Ranjit Avenue in Amritsar on Friday morning. Dr. Singh is scheduled to leave for Ludhiana and Amritsar today. Most of the passengers on the bus would be officials, media persons and religious leaders. Tight security arrangements have been made and Special Protection Group, Punjab Police and central forces have been sent to the spot. Over 10,000 security personnel and nearly 500 police officials had been posted. The first bus from Nankana Sahib, however, is scheduled to start on March 28. The two countries in January had decided to run the bus service. There had been a demand for a bus service from Amritsar to the shrine in Pakistan as hundreds of Sikhs and others visited the Nankana Sahib every year on religious occasions. A trial run of the bus service was conducted on January 27 and 28. March 10 was the initial date for the bus service to start. Pakistan, however, conveyed to India that its preparations for the service had not been completed and the inaugural run from Amritsar should be postponed to March 24.
Sources
said that actually the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC)
had failed to buy land for a suitable and permanent bus terminal. The
Indian bus has a capacity of 42 passengers while the PTDC bus can carry
39 passengers. One-way fare for the bus will be Rs 1,200 from Pakistan
and Rs 1,000 from India. India and Pakistan have three road transport
links between New Delhi and Lahore, Srinagar and Muzaffarabad and the
most recent between Amritsar and Lahore. The first bus service was launched
in 1999 between New Delhi and Lahore. It was, however, suspended following
an attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001. The service resumed in July
2003. The second road link was launched on April 7, 2005. The trial run
for the last road link was launched in December.
-Mar
23, 2006
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