Chandigarh, Jul 9 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah has announced land for setting up a separate building for Haryana Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Saturday. At present, the Punjab and Haryana governments share the Vidhan Sabha complex which is next to the Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat in Union Territory of Chandigarh.
The Haryana government had been making this demand for the last one year. Khattar on Saturday took to Twitter to thank the Union Minister for his announcement.
Shah was chairing the Northern Zone Council meeting in Jaipur and Khattar was also one of the participants.
“Fulfilling our demand for separate building of Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced additional land for Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh. I, on behalf of the people of Haryana, thank the home minister,” Khattar said in a tweet in Hindi.
Shah’s announcement drew reaction from neighbouring Punjab with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann appealing to the Centre to allot land to Punjab in Chandigarh for setting up its own Vidhan Sabha building.
In a tweet in Punjabi, he also said, “There has been a longstanding demand that the Punjab and Haryana High court should be separated. For this also, the Central government should provide land in Chandigarh.” Haryana came into existence on November 1, 1966, but both the states have common buildings for the secretariat, Vidhan Sabha and the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Spelling out the reasons for the need for new additional building for the Haryana Assembly, CM Khattar told the Jaipur meeting that a new delimitation exercise is proposed in 2026 on the basis of which Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections would be held in 2029.
“It is estimated that according to the population of Haryana in the new delimitation, the number of assembly constituencies will be 126 and the number of Lok Sabha constituencies will be 14.
“At present, there are 90 MLAs in the Haryana Legislative Assembly. There is not enough space available in the existing building to even accommodate these 90 MLAs,” he said, according to an official release issued here.
It is also not possible to expand this building, because it is a heritage building, he said.
Apart from this, it is also requested that the entire share of Haryana should be provided in the existing building also, Khattar demanded at the meeting.
“Even after 56 years, we have not got our complete rights. The 24,630 square feet area in the Vidhan Sabha building was given to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Secretariat. But the 20 rooms that came to our share are still in the possession of the Punjab Legislative Assembly.” “There is not enough space for our employees as well as for meetings of legislators, ministers and committees. Therefore, we have demanded land from the Chandigarh Administration to construct an additional building for the smooth functioning of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha.
“The land has also been identified for this. The Home Minister is requested to intervene in this matter and get us land for the additional building of Haryana Vidhan Sabha,” said the CM.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said, “Amit shah ji, by giving land to Haryana to establish exclusive Vidhan Sabha without involving process of due deliberations with all stakeholders, especially Punjab govt, there is attempt to bulldoze Punjab’s sentiments about Chandigarh.” “It is important to halt the process and take us on board for further action,” he said in a tweet.
However, some Punjab leaders took exception to CM Mann’s statement in which he appealed to the Centre to allot land to Punjab in Chandigarh to set up its Vidhan Sabha on the lines of Haryana.
Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said, “I am shocked that someone who calls himself the Chief Minister of Punjab can issue statements to give up Punjab’s widely acknowledged and inalienable right on its Capital, Chandigarh.
“The entire city belongs to Punjab and the Punjab CM is begging for a little space on our own land for Vidhan Sabha building. How can a Chief Minister of Punjab speak the language of Haryana on allotting land to Haryana?” he asked.
On Shah’s statement, Badal said, “The Cente has no right to allot even an inch of Chandigarh to Haryana as the city belonged entirely, exclusively and inalienably to Punjab and its status as a Union Territory is a strictly temporary arrangement pending its transfer to Punjab.” Congress leader Sukhpal Khaira told Mann that he was “weakening” Punjab’s claims over Chandigarh by asking for land for the high court and Vidhan Sabha. “Chandigarh is ours and you should vehemently oppose the Center giving land to Haryana for the new Vidhan Sabha,” said Khaira in a tweet. PTI CHS VSD TIR TIR
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