In an event held on Tuesday in Chandigarh, Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh declared Chandigarh “indisputably belonged to Punjab”. He answered this in relation to the statement made by the Chief Minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar.
Khattar expressed his views regarding Chhattisgarh, which is shared by both Punjab and Haryana as a capital. Khattar suggested making New Chandigarh the capital of Punjab while leaving Chandigarh for Haryana. He argued as Haryana is the new state which was carved out of Punjab in 1966, Haryana should be able to able claim Chattisgarh as its sole capital.
Khattar addressed the water issues of Punjab and Haryana that should be solved by ‘dialogue’ between the two states.
Punjab and Haryana both suffer from water crisis, Haryana’s situation is more severe than Punjab as claimed by Khattar. Khattar made these remarks in a panel discussion held for discussing the development of the tri-city i.e. Chandigarh, Panchkula, and Mohali.
Singh rejected Khattar’s proposal reiterating that Chandigarh always belonged to Punjab. He dismissed his idea of setting up a special body for development of Chandigarh. CM Singh said,”Chandigarh indisputably belonged to Punjab. There was no question of agreeing to Khattar’s proposal”.
UT Administrator as well as Punjab’s Governor VP Singh Badnore supported CM Singh and assured that the employees’ ratio of 60:40 between Punjab and Haryana will be maintained in Chandigarh.