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Punjab parties react sharply to Haryana’s land swap proposal
The Aam Aadmi Party Monday said that Punjab has the sole right over Chandigarh, adding that Haryana will not be allowed to construct its separate legislative assembly in the city.
CHANDIGARH The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday said that Punjab has the sole right over Chandigarh, and Haryana will not be allowed to construct its separate legislative assembly in the city.
In a statement issued here, AAP’s state chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang asserted that Chandigarh belongs to Punjab and will always remain so. He said that Chandigarh was established on land belonging to dozens of villages of Punjab. “The AAP and its government will vehemently oppose any proposal of the Haryana government to build its separate legislative assembly in Chandigarh,” he insisted. Kang said that the Haryana government should set up its legislative assembly in Panchkula, Karnal or elsewhere.
Haryana has sought a 10-acre land in Chandigarh for the additional building of its state assembly. It has identified the 10-acre piece of land adjacent to the traffic lights of Madhya Marg near the railway station road junction. In lieu of it, Haryana has offered the 10-acre site in Panchkula. In July, at the northern zone council meeting in Jaipur, Union Home Minister Amit Shah 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 year.
Meanwhile, the leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa on Monday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that Haryana’s land swap proposal is fraught with the danger of disturbing the already “worrisome law and order situation” in Punjab.
The senior Congress leader urged the Prime Minister not to accept the Haryana government’s proposal as it would jeopardize the hard-earned peace in Punjab. “The (Haryana’s) demand has no leg to stand because the boundaries of Panchkula, already a fully developed town of Haryana, start just two kilometres beyond the Chandigarh railway station chowk on the Madhya Marg, Chandigarh, where buildings for both the high court as well as Vidhan Sabha can be conveniently set up for Haryana without objection from any side,” he wrote.
He said that on January 20, 1970, nearly three years after Haryana came into being, the Centre had issued a formal communication declaring that Haryana, in due course, would have its capital and Chandigarh would continue to remain the capital of Punjab.
Yesterday, SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia also appealed to Chandigarh administrator and Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit not to accept the Haryana government’s proposal.
Majithia, in a letter to Purohit, said Chandigarh was an inalienable part of Punjab. “If such requests are taken into consideration, they will create anarchy as nothing stops the Punjab and Himachal governments to put in requests for land swaps,” Majithia said.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Sunil Jakhar urged both Haryana and Punjab chief ministers to show magnanimity and statesmanship, and utilise the Vidhan Sabha on rotational basis.
However, Jakhar said there should never be any doubt in anyone’s mind over Chandigarh belonging to Punjab only.
“Why cannot we run the Vidhan Sabha which is an internationally reputed heritage building on rotational basis, say for the first 15 days one state uses it and then it is available to the other state. This way even the whole building is available for each state,” Jakhar said.
With Agency inputs
