Hr Assembly Speaker Gupta meets Chandigarh Administrator, discusses land for Vidhan Sabha


PTI | Chandigarh | Updated: 19-11-2022 21:23 IST | Created: 19-11-2022 21:23 IST
Hr Assembly Speaker Gupta meets Chandigarh Administrator, discusses land for Vidhan Sabha
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Haryana Assembly Speaker on Saturday met Punjab Governor and Chandigarh administrator Banwari Lal Purohit and discussed with him about land for the construction of a new building for Haryana Vidhan Sabha here, a move which prompted sharp reactions from the Punjab opposition parties.

Speaker Gian Chand Gupta said he met the governor here and referred a letter written by the Haryana Chief Secretary to the Chandigarh adviser regarding the land for the construction of building for the Haryana Assembly.

Haryana had sought a 10-acre land in Chandigarh for additional building of its state assembly. It has identified the 10-acre piece of land adjacent to the traffic lights of Madhya Marg near railway station road junction.

While speaking to reporters after the meeting, Gupta, however, called his meeting with Purohit as a courtesy call.

In July at the northern zone council meeting in Jaipur, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had announced land for setting up an additional building for Haryana Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh. The Haryana government had been making this demand for the last one year.

At present, the Punjab and Haryana governments share the Vidhan Sabha complex which is next to the Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat in Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Notably, after Haryana came into existence on November 1, 1966, both states have common buildings for the Secretariat, Vidhan Sabha and the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Chandigarh is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. Reacting to the meeting of Gupta with the Punjab governor on land for the Haryana assembly, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Saturday warned against allotting land within the union territory of Chandigarh.

In a statement here, Warring said any such move to grant land to Haryana in Chandigarh will straightway mean encroachment on Punjab's rights which Punjabis will resist at all costs come what may.

He warned the central government against any such move and also questioned the very need of constructing a separate Vidhan Sabha building for Haryana when it was already being run from the existing building in the Capital Complex.

The PCC president alleged that ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government at the Centre and in Haryana it was trying to create one problem or the other for Punjab. He warned that this will create a chasm in the relationship between the Centre and the state.

Warring said it has been decided once for all that Chandigarh belongs to Punjab so there is no question of allotting any land in the city to Haryana. "This was also endorsed in the Rajiv-Longowal accord that Chandigarh belongs to Punjab", he pointed out while asking the BJP governments at the Centre and in Haryana not to tamper with history.

Warring pointed out, the move to construct a separate Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh city was one in a series of such moves like curtailing Punjab's role in Bhakra Beas Management Board, converting Panjab University into Central University or forcing Punjab to provide water to the neighbouring states and ''reducing the number of Punjab employees'' from Chandigarh administration.

Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia appealed to the Punjab Governor to consider the sensitivity of the issue and deny the request. He said Punjab had an inalienable right over Chandigarh and the same had been ratified by central governments and even accepted in parliament. "Punjab gave land for construction of the capital city and was assured that the city would be transferred to it in 10 years-time after Haryana established its own capital", he said.

Majithia also asked the Haryana Speaker as well as chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar to reconsider their request; saying insisting on a separate Vidhan Sabha for Haryana in Chandigarh would inflame passions and spoil the atmosphere. He said as far as the SAD was concerned it would not allow any land to be allotted to Haryana and would launch a sustained agitation to avert it. He also castigated chief minister Bhagwant Mann for failing to protect the interests of the state.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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