The City Beautiful-Chandigarh carries on its shoulders the weight of two BIG FAT Indian state Governments, Haryana And Punjab. It's been over 70 years since Independence and over 50 years since the two states came into existence. It's time to take a look at the story of Chandigarh.
Chandigarh was the first planned city of Independent India. Designed and planned by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, Chandigarh was destined to be the world-class capital of the state of Punjab. The city was completed in the year 1960, and the capital of Punjab was shifted from Shimla to Chandigarh. This was just 6 years before the bifurcation.
(more about Chandigarh:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandigarh)
Chandigarh's administration is carried out by the state government with the help of an Administrator as in the case of every other union territory(except Delhi and Pudducherry). It is mostly the Governor of Punjab who plays the role of the Administrator. The IAS officer's of the administration come from both the states in a proportion of 60:40, the larger number being from Punjab.
The city has been a bone of contention between both the states for over 50 years now. The fight began with the process of bifurcation. The Central Government set-up the Shah Commision at that time to decide the boundary an ettle other issues. It recommended that Chandigarh be given to Haryana. But this was not agreed upon by the opportunistic politicians of Punjab, one lost his life in the protest and when another one began his rally and threatened to end his life, Indira Gandhi rushed in an accord , which said that Chandigarh will go to Punjab and the Hindi speaking areas of Abohar and Fazilka will be given to Haryana, and also the latter will be given central assistance to build its own capital in 5 years time. Also, SYL canal was added to the accord and it was agreed upon that it will be completed as soon as possible.
But this never happened and this issue was never resolved. Bansi Lal drew flak from all the sections of the society in Haryana, and he eventually lost. Punjab was engulfed by terrorism over the next decade, and this accord never materialised.
The Rajiv Gandhi Government at the centre in the 1980's again signed a pact with Sant Longowal of the Akali Dal, where they agreed that Chandigarh will be given to the state of Punjab, but this time around there was assistance package for Haryana and no commitment on the SYL. It is also to be noted here that the pact was signed between Rajeev Gandhi and Sant Longowal and no one was there to put forward Haryana's point of view on the matter.
The truth is that Government's on both sides have always done politics on this matter and no concrete action was ever taken. The Government of Haryana eventually shifted most of it's departments to the city of Panchkula, leaving only some offices at the Capitol Complex and only the Vidhan Sabha.
In my view, the status quo must be maintained. It will be in the best interest of the citizens of the city that it remains a union territory.
The era of Politics over the capital must end in both the states and we must focus on other more important issues that people face in their day to day lives.
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