Shimla, April 4 (PTI) Himachal Regional Alliance president Rajan Sushant on Monday urged Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to convene a special assembly session on the Chandigarh issue, claiming that 7.19 per cent area of the Union Territory belongs to the hill state.
Sushant made the plea to the HP CM while talking to reporters and said the state assembly session on the Chandigarh issue should be convened within a week.
The HRA chief also threatened to launch a statewide agitation from April 15, if no special session of the HP assembly is convened within a week as Punjab has already held its assembly session on the Union Territory and Haryana is to hold it on Tuesday.
A former HP minister and an ex-BJP MP from Kangera, Sushant had set up his own Hamari Party Himachal Party (HPHP) in 2020, followed by the establishment of the Himachal Regional Alliance (HRA) last month. The HRA included HPHP, three other political parties and five non-government organizations.
He claimed that the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, entitles Himachal Pradesh to 7.19 per cent of Chandigarh’s areas.
According to the Act, six sectors of Chandigarh near Himachal Pradesh’s Baddi in Solan district should be given to Himachal Pradesh if Chandigarh is divided, he added.
The HRA president, however, said Chandigarh’s status as a Union Territory should be maintained.
The four-time MLA further said Chandigarh had been made Punjab’s capital temporarily.
Both Punjab and Haryana should build their new capitals now on their land, he added.
Sushant also claimed that according to the Punjab Reorganization Act, 7.19 per cent of jobs in Chandigarh should be provided to Himachal Pradesh residents.
Sixty per cent of jobs in Chandigarh are, however, provided to Punjabis and 40 per cent to Haryana residents presently, he said.
The Himachal Pradesh population in undivided Punjab at the time of its division in 1966 was 7.19 per cent, so as per the Punjab Reorganisation Act 7.19 per cent of jobs in Chandigarh should be given to Himachalis, he added.
Additionally, he said, Himachal Pradesh has 100 per cent right on the Bhakhra Dam as the Act provides that a particular state will have full right on the property which falls in its territory after the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966.
Sushant said none of the HP chief ministers raised these issues strongly and so, a special session of the state assembly should be convened within a week to raise these issues strongly.
The HRA chief said he would field candidates on all 68 assembly seats of the state in the coming elections to be held later this year. PTI DJI RAX RAX
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