Sultanpur Lodhi, now a white city, nearly ready to receive Guru Nanak’s devotees

Medical facilities
A new ICU, trauma centre and emergency ward have been set up at Civil Hospital Sultanpur Lodhi which will be available for people within a 50 km radius of the town. MLA Navtej Singh Cheema said Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had announced that this hospital will get a facelift in the first Cabinet meeting at Sultanpur Lodhi just last month, and modernisation work had been completed in less than two months.

The hospital also has a defibrillator to cater to heart patients. Moreover, 16 special beds have been added alongwith an emergency ward with another six beds with central oxygen supply. The fully air-conditioned ICU ward have a suction route with manifold system and multi para monitor which will provide information like breathing and blood pressure of a patient. A new blood storage unit has also been set up.

Security
Several security towers have been set up around the city while nearly 6,000 police personnel will be deployed within a 10 km radius. IG (Jalandhar Range) Naunihal Singh said fool-proof arrangements will be made for the mega event in which several lakhs of devotees are expected to take part. IG and Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner D P S Kharbanda said that PCS and PPS officers have been deputed to minutely oversee the arrangements. They said four types of passes were being issued at Sultanpur Lodhi which includes passes for city residents, duty passes for heads of departments and other officers and special vehicle passes for emergency services like fire bridge, ambulances, e- rickshaw, recovery vans, supply vehicles for langar and for media.

Accommodation
Apart from the three tent cities set up by the government where 35,000 devotees can be accommodated, a five-star tent city has been erected on 14 acres by a Jaipur-based individual in a private capacity, where people can stay at their own expense. The government and religious heads of various deras have reserved 5,000 houses in nearby villages and towns for devotees to stay during the two-week celebrations in November.

Decorations
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) will be decorating the Gurdwara Ber Sahib using 40 tonnes of flowers including imported ones. Nearly 100 artisans have been invited from Kolkata for this purpose by the SGPC. Decorating of spots like Darbar Haal, Darshani Dyodi, Bhai Mardana ji Diwan will be started on November 7 and completed before November 12, Guru Nanak’s birthday. The Parikrama Sewa Society Sultanpur Lodhi has been entrusted with this work by SGPC.

A giant balloon carrying a welcome message now floats at 60 feet above the banks of the Holy Bein, put up by environmentalist baba Balbir Singh Seechewal.