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Punjab parties slam UT’s decision to allot land for Haryana assembly building
Political parties in Punjab on Thursday slammed the Chandigarh administration for allotting land to Haryana to build a legislative assembly
Political parties in Punjab on Thursday slammed the Chandigarh administration for allotting land to Haryana to build a legislative assembly.
HT was the first to report UT’s decision that the Chandigarh administration has decided to allot 10 acres to Haryana to build an assembly in exchange for 12 acres belonging to the state adjoining Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park.
Chandigarh deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh had said on Wednesday that the decision to swap the land was taken at a recent meeting with Haryana government officers, who have been asked to submit a non-encumbrance certificate and a demarcation report of the 12 acres. They have been given two weeks to submit both certificates. The development comes exactly a year after Union home minister Amit Shah announced the allocation of land for the Haryana assembly in Chandigarh at the 30th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council in Jaipur.
Leader of opposition in Punjab and senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa termed the move as ‘extremely deplorable’. In a message on micro-blogging site Twitter Bajwa said: “The BJP-led Centre govt is hell-bent on infringing Punjab’s claim on Chandigarh in one way or the other.
However, the @AAPPunjab govt has also completely failed to safeguard Punjab’s rights in the capital (SIC)”.
Bjawa alleged that ever since Bhagwant Mann took over as CM, he had attempted to dilute Punjab’s claim on Chandigarh.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged both the Centre as well as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab colluded to allot land for a separate Vidhan Sabha to Haryana in the union territory for political advantage in the state assembly polls.
In a press statement issued here, Badal said the decision was in continuation of an announcement made by Union home minister Amit Shah at the 30th meeting of the North Zonal Council in Jaipur on July 9, last year.
“Chief minister Bhagwant Mann did not protest against this announcement and has played a dubious role on this sensitive issue,” said Sukhbir, adding that when the proposal was first mooted by Haryana, Mann did not oppose, instead requested the Centre to allot land to Punjab also for the same purpose. Sukhbir demanded a roll back of the decision.
Chief minister Bhagwant Mann, who was touring the flood affected areas in Sangrur on Thursday, said, “Let’s save these acres (flood-hit agricultural land) first,, and we will talk about 10 acres later.”
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the NDA government in the Centre, has also not reacted to the move.
Reacting to the development, AAP Punjab’s chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang on Wednesday had said that allotment of land was “unconstitutional”. “We will not tolerate the land being allotted to Haryana in Chandigarh for setting up an assembly... we will hold a meeting soon in this regard,” he said.
