Chandigarh Admn to take up city issues with Centre today

For convenience of residents, UT Chief Secretary H Rajesh Prasad will take up major city issues with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) tomorrow.

According to sources, the Chief Secretary would discuss various issues, including the good governance, filling of vacant posts in the Education Department, the Capital of Punjab (Development and Regulation) Act etc, with the Union Home Secretary.

The sources said the Capital of Punjab (Development and Regulation) Act would be prominently discussed the MHA to ease norms as the Act was very old and things have changed a lot during this period.

Residents of the city have been facing various issues for a long time, including share-wise sale of property, ownership rights of people living in various rehabilitation colonies, extension of lal dora in 22 villages, need-based changes carried out in houses allotted by the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) and others.

Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari had time and again raised what he described as “legacy issues”, which effect lives of lakhs of city residents, inside and outside Parliament and even wrote letters of the MHA and the UT Administration.

The MHA had repeatedly sought detailed comments and current status on these issues from the UT Administration. Significantly, the UT Administration had earlier turned down these demands while responding to queries raised in Parliament.

Twenty-two villages in the UT were brought under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation. Residents have long demanded the regularisation of constructions carried out beyond the lal dora. In August last year, the MHA had clarified in Parliament that constructions outside the lal dora without the DC’s approval were in violation of the Punjab New Capital (Periphery) Control Act, 1952.

Similarly, allottees of the CHB houses have also demanded regularisation of need-based changes carried out in their dwelling units. Approximately 55,000 of the 62,000 dwelling units have violations. While residents demanded a one-time settlement on the lines of the “Delhi solution,” the Administration has maintained that unauthorised changes cannot be allowed, citing UT’s planned architectural character and its location in Seismic Zone IV.

Further, the UT Administration has banned the share-wise registration of properties outside families after the Supreme Court’s January 2024 order that banned conversion of houses in heritage sectors (1–30) into apartments. Many residents argued that the Administration misinterpreted the SC ruling.