Makkar made SGPC president for a third time

Avtar Singh Makkar was today elected President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) for a third consecutive time.

By Ravinder Singh Robin

Amritsar, Nov.23 : Avtar Singh Makkar was today elected President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) for a third consecutive time.

Former SGPC president Prof. Kirpal Singh Badungar proposed Makkar's name, which was accepted by the house unopposed. Makkar was elected the 41st president of the SGPC, the single largest representative body of the Sikhs.

The general house meeting of SGPC members was held at Teja Singh Samundari Hall on Friday.

Barring two executive members, the whole executive committee, comprising of eleven members and all the office bearers, remained the same.

Raghujit Singh Virk, Kewal Singh Badal and Sukhdev Singh Bhaur were reelected as senior vice president, junior vice president and general secretary respectively.

In his acceptance speech, Makkar urged the Governments of India and Pakistan to work jointly for saving the corridor for Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, where Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikhism, spent his last 17 years.

He further demanded that a visa center should be established at Amritsar to falicitate devotees who wanted to board the Amritsar Nankana Sahib Bus service from Amritsar.

Makkar later told reporters that the SGPC would bring more transparency in the activities of the body in future. He said that his thrust would be to chalk out more programs to spread the massage of Sikhism to they world.

ANI