CHANDIGARH, November 19: Punjab Congress today warned against allotting land to Haryana within the union territory of Chandigarh for building a separate Vidhan Sabha.
Reacting to a meeting between the Speaker of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha with Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Banwari Lal Purohit in this context here today, the PCC president Amarinder Singh 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.
He 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.
