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Badal, Dev Anand will accompany PM on bus to Lahore

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and veteran Hindi film actor Dev Anand will accompany Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his visit to Lahore in Pakistan on February 20, official sources said.

Badal had a telephonic talk with Vajpayee from Chandigarh today, and urged him to take up with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharief the issue of entrusting the service and maintenance of Sikh gurdwaras in Pakistan to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee.

It will perhaps be the first visit by an Indian chief minister to Lahore.

Dev Anand, who was born in Gurdaspur, has received a special invitation from Vajpayee and will be reaching New Delhi tomorrow to join the delegation. "I am feeling very good and excited," he said.

Anand is happy at the thought of visiting his alma mater, Lahore's Government College, from where he graduated 56 years ago. He hopes to compensate for the opportunity he missed some years ago when he was invited for the institution's 125^th anniversary celebrations.

"I could not make it then, but the college sent me the insignia brought out on the occasion and presented to past students who had been invited from all over the world," he said.

He said Vajpayee has taken a great initiative to improve ties with Pakistan and was sure it would go a long way in promoting amity and friendship among the two neighbours separated by politics.

A report from Wagah on the Indo-Pak border said senior officials of the two countries were giving final touches to security and other arrangements for Vajpayee's historic bus journey to Pakistan on Saturday.

Several rounds of discussions were held in the past few days between officials of two countries at Wagah -- the only road link between India and Pakistan -- for smooth launch of the bus service between Delhi and Lahore.

An advance Special Protection Group team has also crossed the Indian border by road yesterday to have consultations with their Pakistani counterparts at Lahore, where Vajpayee will stay for a night.

The new Punjab police chief, Sharabjit Singh, soon after assuming charge yesterday visited the Wagah border to oversee arrangements made for Vajpayee's visit. He also held a meeting with officials of other security agencies.

Immigration, custom and border security force officials said a coordination committee, comprising officials of the central and Punjab governments were camping in Wagah and in Amritsar to sort out any problems which may arise.

BSF officials said this was the first time the prime minister is coming to the border areas by road.

The BSF, immigration, customs and other government buildings have been given a face-lift by the respective agencies. The other side of the border has also been given a new look by security officials of Pakistan.

Officials at the border said Sharief will receive Vajpayee at the border, where he will reach by a special bus along with senior central government officials. Vajpayee will board the bus from Amritsar airport to cross the Wagah post.

According to schedule, the bus carrying the prime minister will cross the border around 1600 hours. Passengers on the Delhi Transport Corporation bus from Delhi will reach Lahore later in the day.

The Pakistan government has also made special arrangements on the other side of the border. A special helipad has been built near the border from where the Indian prime minister, his Pakistan counterpart and accompanying officials will be taken to Lahore in three helicopters.

The Pakistanigovernment has taken special precautionary measures to prevent any untoward incident as some hardliners have been opposing the launch of the bus service. The Pakistan government will provide an escort to the DTC bus from the border to Lahore in view of these threats.

Custom and immigration officials said the government has directed that all formalities at the border should be completed within an hour to ensure that passengers do not face any kind of harassment. A computerised system has also been set up similar to the one at the immigration office of the railway route to quicken the process of clearance, they added.

UNI

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