M A I N   N E W S

Punjab decides to call Mullanpur New Chandigarh
n State’s logic: Township conceived as eco-friendly, so new name apt n Critics lament: Move to help colonisers
Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service

The making of New Chandigarh

The New Chandigarh project was conceived in 1993 during late CM Beant Singh’s regime. The project was grounded in the wake of stiff opposition from the area residents. In 2000, the then Akali Govt revived the project and called it Anandgarh plan. But the Cabinet scrapped it in 2001. In 2008, the masterplan was prepared and it finally paved the way for New Chandigarh.

Chandigarh, January 11
To cash in on Chandigarh's stature of being the first planned city of the country, the Punjab Government has renamed its Mullanpur township on the city’s periphery, adjoining the PGI, as “New Chandigarh”.

The new name, “hijacked” from an earlier proposal by late Chief Minister Beant Singh, is likely to benefit all those who have a high stake in the area, be it politicians, bureaucrats or private builders.

The changed name has the stamp of approval of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who took the decision at a recent meeting of the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Board chaired by him. Defending the decision, SS Sandhu, Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, said it was a normal practice to keep the name of a new township on the adjoining established major cities. He cited the example of Navi Mumbai to justify the decision. He claimed that the decision had been taken on the basis of a feedback from the public. At the meeting, which was also attended by the Financial Commissioner, Revenue, and Principal Secretaries of Revenue, Local Government, Commerce and Industry, Rural Development and Environment, it was decided that the Mullanpur Local Planning Area (LPA) as conceived in the masterplan be rechristened as New Chandigarh.

The logic given for the new name was that since the upcoming township was conceived as an “eco-friendly” urban settlement, it would be appropriate to rename it as New Chandigarh. However, there is more than what meets the eye. It appears that the Akali government has borrowed the name from the regime of late Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1993, when the New Chandigarh project was planned on the northern periphery of Chandigarh. But in the face of stiff opposition from the area residents, late Chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar had subsequently abandoned the project. Interestingly, Parkash Singh Badal had opposed the New Chandigarh project then. Questioning the need to rename Mullanpur township as New Chandigarh, Jit Kumar Gupta, national vice-president of the Indian Institute of Architect, said: “As if the massive urbanisation allowed by Punjab in shape of high-rises on the Chandigarh’s periphery was not enough, the Punjab Government wants to now cash in on the name of City Beautiful.”