By IANS
Chandigarh : The Wagah check post on the India-Pakistan border will now be known in India as Attari check post.
The central government has notified the name change, a Punjab government spokesman said here Saturday.
The state government had recently recommended to the centre that the name of the post should be changed from Wagah to Attari as Wagah village is located inside Pakistan while the first village on the Indian side is Attari.
The border post – located 30 km from Sikh holy city of Amritsar along the international border, called Radcliffe Line, between the two countries – is frequented by hundreds of people every evening to watch the Retreat ceremony at the sunset when gates on both sides are formally closed with an impressive show by Indian and Pakistani border guards.
This border post is the only official road link between the two countries from where people, cargo and vehicles are allowed to cross into the other side.
Attari village is the last railway station on the Indian side from where the Samjhauta Express, the peace train, goes to Pakistan’s city of Lahore, 30 km away.
India and Pakistan have already agreed to allow trucks from either side to cross this border post from Oct 1 to facilitate better movement of goods. The trucks will go up to the customs terminal in the other country. Presently goods are off-loaded from trucks in respective countries and carried till the border physically by labourers.
India is constructing a new trade gate at the Attari border to allow smooth movement of goods in view of the increased land trade between.
The coming up of the new gate, for which 100 acres of land is being acquired, will allow the present gate to be used for the Retreat ceremony and movement of people only.