550th Guru Nanak birth anniv: Govt urges Sultanpur Lodhi residents to rent out their houses to pilgrims

To cater the rush on the eve the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak between November 1 and 20, the state government has urged local residents and non-resident Indians (NRIs) to rent out their houses to the pilgrims.

The state government has taken 900 acres on rent from farmers to set-up three tent cities as around 30-35 lakh pilgrims are expected to visit the city for the Guru’s anniversary event. The officials said that to make the stay of the pilgrims comfortable and memorable, we have requested the locals to rent out their properties to tourists.

The government has also prepared the lists of hotels and government guest houses in Jalandhar and Kapurthala for the stay of officials and devotees. Beside, Kapurthala administration has also developed a pilgrim-friendly mobile application named as ‘550 Parkash Ustav’ for the convenience of the pilgrims. The app will also provide details and availability of hotels.

“We are urging the people to let pilgrims stay in their house as guests during the almost three-week-long celebrations. For this, we will make a special column in the app for people and NRIs, who want to inform us about renting out their houses and bungalows,” said Kapurthala deputy commissioner DPS Kharbanda.

The app will be launched on Saturday and as of now the administration has a tie-up with 80 hotels in Jalandhar and over 40 in Kapurthala district. The hotel owners voluntarily have agreed to reserve 10% rooms for officials and VIP guests, said the DC.

Officials said that the app will have navigation system to guide pilgrims to Sultanpur Lodhi and visit various gurdwaras here. It is designed especially to facilitate the NRIs and pilgrims visiting from other states.

The administration will keep a record of properties that will be put up for rent. The guests will have to share their Aadhaar ID or passport numbers with the administration for proper registration. In the app, people can also get to know the availability of rooms in hotels and tent houses and how they can book these tents and hotel rooms in Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts.