NZC meeting today: Punjab CM to oppose Haryana’s claim over Chandigarh

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, September 25

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will object to the “overt and covert” ways adopted by the Haryana Government to make its claim over Chandigarh during the Northern Zonal Council meeting tomorrow in the wake of Haryana Government’s bid for land for a new Vidhan Sabha in the city.

The CM will stake Punjab’s claim on Chandigarh as the sole capital of the state, giving the history of all promises made to Punjab on the issue, including the Rajiv Longowal accord of 1985. Mann is expected to raise the point on how the land for Chandigarh was acquired from Punjab’s territory for making it the capital of the state.

Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office have told The Tribune that the issue of Haryana seeking affiliation for its colleges with Panjab University will be opposed, while Mann will also raise the issue of Central grants not being released for the state’s premiere university, which is also a heritage institution for Punjab.

This is besides the contentious water issues with Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan that will be raised by Punjab at the meeting on Tuesday. Punjab has already opposed the proposed water cess to be imposed by Himachal Pradesh on hydro-power projects, the release of the Ravi and Beas water to Rajasthan and additional water to Rajasthan from the Bhakra Main Line.

The meeting is being held in Amritsar and will be chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Chief Ministers of Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, besides Administrators of Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir will attend the meeting, where inter-state issues are to be discussed.

Official sources in the Chief Minister’s Office have told The Tribune that Chief Minister Mann is also expected to raise the demand for one-time relief to Punjab under the National Disaster Response Fund for doubling the compensation to be given to flood-affected farmers. Punjab suffered two spells of floods – once in July and again in August.

The Chief Minister will also demand that farmers be allowed to buy agricultural land in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh for doing farming.

Human trafficking, refund of NPS corpus

• With human trafficking gaining gigantic proportions in the state, CM Mann is expected to urge the Home Minister to form a policy for the registration of all travel agents who cheat people. Punjab is already registering all travel agents.
• The refund of the new pension scheme corpus by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority will be taken up at the meet. Punjab had reverted to the old pension scheme last year and has been demanding refund of Rs 16,746 cr corpus