Akali Dal protests move to allocate land in Chandigarh to Haryana for new Assembly
Chandigarh (The Uttam Hindu): Punjab's opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday said any decision to allocate land to Haryana in Chandigarh would be unconstitutional as it would violate Article 3 of the Constitution, whereby the Parliament alone could change state boundaries.
Akali Dal leader Daljit Singh Cheema, while urging Union Home Minister Amit Shah to rescind the decision, said it was in violation of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.
Terming the entire move to allocate land to Haryana for a new Assembly in the Union Territory as a design to end Punjab’s right over Chandigarh, Cheema said: "It is clear that the Haryana government is colluding with the Centre against Punjab."
He also accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab of being hand in glove with Haryana and the Central government.
"Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) did not object when Home Minister Amit Shah made this announcement at a meeting of the North Zone Council meeting," Cheema said.
He said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann weakened Punjab’s case by refusing to object to Haryana’s proposal and instead asked for land for Punjab also under the same premises.
"The Chief Minister should have realized that Punjab is the owner of Chandigarh before making any such request."
Making it clear that the Akali Dal would not allow this move to succeed, Cheema said: "We will seek legal counsel and also chart out the next course of action soon. No sacrifice is too big to protect the interests of Punjab."
He also asked the Haryana government to make its new Assembly in its territory, adding that the land which has been earmarked for the Assembly building in the UT is two to three km from Haryana’s territory.
Meanwhile, the Akali Dal leader said while a demographic fraud had been perpetrated on Punjab by taking Census figures of 1961, instead of 1955, to identify Hindi-speaking areas that resulted in a truncated state post reorganisation, now a land fraud was being done to award land to Haryana in the Union Territory.
Cheema said land worth hundreds of crores in the UT was being given to Haryana in exchange for land worth nothing in Haryana to the UT administration. He said 10 acres of land being given to the UT administration was in the Sukhna catchment area and could not be developed.
The SAD leader also cited the report of the Expert Committee for Declaration of Eco-Sensitive Zones around Protected Areas to buttress his argument, adding the committee had also made it clear that no zoning could be permitted in the eco-sensitive zones. He also made it clear that no clearance had been given to facilitate the development of the site given to the UT administration in Haryana as it had been made clear that this could be done subject to orders of the High Court and the National Green Tribunal.
