LAHORE, April 17: The federal government is spending Rs50 million on improvement and maintenance of Gurdwaras in the country. Evacuee Trust Property Board chairman Zulfiqar Ali Khan told APP here on Sunday that the government had made special arrangements for 10,000 Sikh pilgrims drawn from all over the world to attend the Baisakhi festival.

Mr Khan said the sum allocated by the federal government would be used to provide better facilitates to the visiting pilgrims, which included construction of additional blocks and expansion of accommodation at the holy places of Sikhs.

He said the ETPB had made elaborate arrangements for the pilgrims’ transportation, boarding and lodging, besides provision of food and medical facilities to them.

The pilgrims will visit Gurdwara Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib, the birth place of Baba Guru Nanak, and Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore, during their ten-day stay in the country, to perform their rituals, including Akhand Paat Sahib, Bhog, Ardas and Hukamnama. They will return to India on April 20.