Sikhs To Get A Prayer Room At Jfk Airport

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Sikhs to get a prayer room at JFK airport

6 Dec 2007, 0157 hrs IST,Khushwant Singh,TNN

CHANDIGARH: Sikh travellers to New York have a reason to celebrate. The John F Kennedy airport, one of the busiest airports in the US, will soon set aside a room for Sikhs to offer prayers. The decision was announced by New York City assemblyman Rory Lancman after a meeting with the Port Authority, which manages the JFK airport. The November 30 meeting, which was held at the Chapel Museum Hall at John F Kennedy airport's Terminal 4, was attended by Susan Baer, general manager (Aviation), JFK airport.

According to US-based Sikh organisation United Sikhs, which sent a representative to the meeting, Baer agreed that there was a need for a prayer room for Sikh travellers. Lancman, who 25th District, Queens constituency has a large Sikh population, said, "The Sikh community is a growing population in Queens and many Sikhs travel to India regularly. Sikhs travellers deserve a place to offer prayers at JFK airport."

Balbir Kaur, community services director of United Sikhs, told TOI,"We are happy that the Port Authority recognizes the need for prayer facilities for Sikhs." Other port authorities in the US too will accommodate the need for prayer facilities for Sikhs, she added. There are presently four prayer rooms at JFK airport — for Catholics,Protestants, Jews and a multi-faith room. The port authority will divide the multifaith prayer room to cater to the needs of Sikh travellers, said Arvind Kaur, United Sikhs' EduCare centre coordinator.

Lancman's chief of staff Diane Barrett said it would take a fortnight for the Port Authority to finalise the arrangement for the prayer room. // RN = new String (Math.random()); // RNS = RN.substring (2,11); // b2 = ' '; if (doweshowbellyad==1) bellyad.innerHTML = b2;