BIG PICTURE: A tale of two cities as Mohali turns 50, Chandigarh 59 but neither celebrates

On November 1, 1975, the then Punjab Chief Minister Giani Zail Singh laid a foundation stone near Kamla Market in what is now Phase I of Mohali. It bore an inscription painted by a local artist —“SAS Nagar, 1 November 1975”. It was meant to mark the birth of a new township, Punjab’s modern satellite to the capital city of Chandigarh.

Fifty years later, the stone is gone. The place where it stood has vanished into a maze of broken pavements, scattered garbage and makeshift stalls. “I painted the letters on that stone with my own hands,” recalls Baljeet Singh Papneja, the painter who created the marker for the government in 1975, adding, “It had the name of Mohali and the date in red enamel. Now it’s gone. Nobody even remembers where it was.”

The irony is hard to miss: a city that rose faster than any other in Punjab cannot trace its own first stone.

This November 1 is significant for another reason. It also marks Chandigarh’s 59th foundation day — the date it formally became the Union Territory and joint capital of Punjab and Haryana in 1966.

Yet, neither city is celebrating. There are no speeches, no civic events and no public reflection. That silence tells its own story — of how Chandigarh and Mohali, born nearly a decade apart, have taken diverging paths. One carefully planned but stagnating, the other chaotic yet booming.

SHEDDING THE ‘POOR COUSIN’ TAG

For decades, Mohali was seen as Chandigarh’s poorer cousin — the quieter, slower half of the Tricity. The capital was the showpiece of modern India, designed by Le Corbusier and guarded fiercely by the Union Government’s planning codes. Mohali, meanwhile, stumbled along, shaped by Punjab’s fluctuating politics and unsteady urban policies. But that perception no longer holds.

Over the last two decades, Mohali has outgrown its shadow. Its population has multiplied nearly tenfold since the 1980s. From a quiet township of 70,000 till early 2000s, Mohali became Punjab’s 18th district on April 14, 2006. Spread across 1,189 square km, the district’s population, which was nearly 8.5 lakh in 2006, has now swelled around 15 lakh. The city’s skyline, once defined by low-rise houses, is now a forest of glass towers, high-end apartments, hospitals, malls and IT campuses. “Mohali has long shed its underdog tag,” says an officer in Punjab’s urban development department, adding, “It’s not Chandigarh’s spillover anymore — it’s a city with its own pulse.”

When Mohali’s first sectors (70-80) were drawn, they were meant simply as residential extensions to Chandigarh. Then came liberalisation, the tech boom and the arrival of private developers. The transformation was swift and irreversible. From 2005 onward, large integrated projects like Aerocity, IT City and Knowledge Park attracted global names — Quark, Infosys, Sebiz, HDFC and dozens of start-ups. The opening of Chandigarh International Airport by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Mohali side in 2015 added the missing link.

Mohali now sprawls over 1,189 sq km, eclipsing Chandigarh’s 114 sq km. Recalling the memories of 2006 when he was appointed the first Deputy Commissioner of Mohali, Tejveer Singh, who is now posted as Additional Chief Secretary, Local Government, Punjab, says, “With good amenities and infrastructure, SAS Nagar (Mohali) has certainly emerged out of the shadow of being a satellite city of Chandigarh since its creation as a district in 2006”.

“As the first Deputy Commissioner of Mohali, we expectedly had many administrative and developmental challenges then. I recall that the DC office was run from the refurbished PUDA showrooms in Phase 1 but now operates from a modern District Administrative Complex,” he said.

A former bureaucrat agreed, noting how Mohali has become the “economic face” of modern Punjab: “It represents the state’s transition from manufacturing to services and knowledge-based industries. What we are seeing today is the result of policy continuity over two decades.”

Real estate followed suit. A 200-square-yard plot that sold for Rs 8 lakh in 2000 now fetches upwards of Rs 2 crore. Recently, A 430-sq-yd. plot in Sector 68 fetched Rs 8.8 crore. Gated societies like Wave Estate, Falcon View, and Hero Homes have redrawn the skyline. Schools, hospitals, multiplexes, and cafés have multiplied in tandem. “Mohali is the new Chandigarh in every practical sense,” says Anurag Sharma, a leading realtor. “It’s where the city’s younger generation now lives, studies, and invests.”

THE CITY THAT STOOD STILL

Across the rivulet, Chandigarh — India’s first planned city — stands immaculate yet immovable.

Spread over 114 sq km, the UT was designed for a population of five lakh; today, it houses more than thirteen. Yet no new sectors have been added in decades. Strict zoning laws and heritage protections have frozen its growth. The result is scarcity and astronomical prices. Residential plots that cost Rs 50 lakh in the early 2000s now command upto Rs 126 crore for 8.5-kanal house, making Chandigarh one of India’s most expensive per-square-yard markets.

The middle class has quietly voted with its feet, migrating to Mohali, Zirakpur and New Chandigarh in search of space and affordability.

“Chandigarh was designed for a different era,” says Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav, adding, “Balancing growth with preservation is our biggest challenge. High prices reflect both demand and the limits of expansion, but we remain committed to efficient, transparent governance.”

The contrast is stark. Where Chandigarh is curated and controlled, Mohali is raw and restless — expanding faster than it can plan.

WHY THE SILENCE MATTERS

For a region that once symbolised post-Independence optimism, the silence is telling. Chandigarh represented Nehru’s dream of modern India — planned, progressive and pure. Mohali represents its present — improvised, entrepreneurial and imperfect. “Cities that forget where they came from lose their compass,” says lawyer Rajesh Gupta, adding, “Mohali’s missing foundation stone is more than a relic — it’s a reminder that memory and planning must grow together.”

Chandigarh still photographs better — clean, geometric, composed. Mohali still builds faster — messy, noisy, alive. One is a curated past; the other, an unfiltered present.

At the corner near Kamla Market, where the first stone of Mohali once stood, life continues: a fruit vendor calls out, cables hang loose and children chase a deflated football by a drain. That may well be the truest image of Mohali at 50 — unplanned, unpretentious but unstoppable.

How different administrative DNA took neighbours on separate paths

The two cities’ administrative DNA explains much. Chandigarh is governed directly by the Union Home Ministry — a rare city-state model that ensures bureaucratic stability but resists flexibility. Mohali, under Punjab’s Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) and the Municipal Corporation, thrives on state-level schemes and private partnerships. The result: Chandigarh is meticulously regulated; Mohali, aggressively expansionist.

Chandigarh MP and former representative of Anandpur Sahib (which covers Mohali) Manish Tewari calls the absence of celebration a missed opportunity. “Chandigarh and Mohali are twin pillars of Punjab’s urban story. It is therefore unfortunate that neither marks its foundation day. Both deserve reflection, if not celebration,” adds Tewari, who is also a former Union Minister. “Chandigarh’s pride should not become its prison,” says former MP Satya Pal Jain, adding, “We need to modernise governance and integrate it with Mohali and Panchkula under one regional vision.”

Former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal agrees: “Chandigarh has become static by design, while Mohali’s dynamism is accidental. The Tricity needs a coordinated planning body to balance growth with governance.”

Tracing the crime graphs

Growth has also brought contrasting social trends. Chandigarh, with its higher density and cosmopolitan population, records a higher rate of reported crime per capita, including property offences and traffic violations, though policing remains among the most efficient in north India. Mohali has seen a spike in economic and cybercrime, reflecting its newer, more transient population.

Punjab Police data shows that while Chandigarh registered roughly 370 IPC offences per lakh population in 2024, Mohali’s rate stood at 240 per lakh, though with faster year-on-year growth.

“Rapid urbanisation brings both opportunity and stress,” says Mohali Deputy Commissioner Komal Mittal. “Our focus is on planned expansion, safety and responsive civic governance. Mohali’s evolution must remain inclusive, sustainable, not just profitable.”

Officials admit that crime prevention and infrastructure often lag behind construction. Areas around Sector 79, Aerocity and Kharar road face issues of street lighting, encroachments, and policing gaps — familiar symptoms of fast, uncoordinated growth.

Twin economies, interlinked future

For all their contrasts, Chandigarh and Mohali remain inseparable. The airport that carries Chandigarh’s name stands on Mohali’s soil. Thousands who work in Chandigarh live across the border. The cities share electricity grids, transport routes, and a common economy.

“Without unified governance, the Tricity is like a body with three heads and no heart,” observes a senior planner at Punjab Engineering College.

A Tricity Metropolitan Authority — proposed repeatedly to integrate planning, traffic, and waste systems — remains stuck between jurisdictions.