Chandigarh civic body jumps into fight over city’s UT status

City should get its own Legislative Assembly so that residents can decide policies themselves, it says

As the emotive issue surrounding the territorial claim over Chandigarh continues to boil between Punjab and Haryana, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation on Thursday passed a resolution stating that the city should remain a Union Territory.

The resolution was passed at a special meeting of the corporation general house, which was summoned by Mayor Sarabjit Kaur, who is from the Bharatiya Janta Party. The resolution also said the city should get its own Legislative Assembly so that residents can decide policies.

The BJP has 13 councillors in the 35–member corporation, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has 14, the Congress seven and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has one.

When the resolution was passed, only the BJP councillors were present in the House. The councillors of the other parties had staged a walkout over non–discussion on the recent hike in water tariff.

BJP councillor Maheshinder Singh Sidhu read the resolution saying “..keeping in view the sentiments of the residents of Chandigarh, its status of Union Territory should be maintained. Rather State Legislative Assembly should be constituted in Chandigarh so as to enable the residents to decide about the policies and future of the city themselves”.

The resolution said the Centre should intervene and direct the Haryana and the Punjab governments to develop their own independent capital cities. The House extended thanks to the Union government for implementing Central services rules in the city.

Recently, Punjab and Haryana have both staked claims over Chandigarh — the joint capital by passing a resolution in their Assemblies.