The Centre will shortly appoint a committee for the integrated development of Chandigarh, the only planned city in India.
Sharing this information, Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh and Governor of Punjab Shivraj V Patil said that a minister from the Centre was expected to be a part of this committee.
He apprised that experts from sundry fields like education, architecture, government officials and artistes would be incorporated to make a futuristic plan for the holistic development of Chandigarh and its periphery.
Patil had his maiden interaction with the members of CII (NR) in Chandigarh today to get their feedback on the constraints in the development of Chandigarh .
It is pertinent to mention here that the sustainability and uniqueness of architecture and urban planning of Chandigarh has been debated at different forums and various communications had been sent to the Centre by the local organisations in the past four years to retain the uniqueness of the town.
With the creation of job opportunities in private sector in Chandigarh a substantial migration from neighbouring states has been observed in the past five years but the city does not have the infrastructure to support the influx of new residents.
The development of satellite towns of Mohali and Panchkula did not meet the required parameters due to lack of coordination between the policymakers of the two states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
Patil emphasised on the need of better coordination among the stakeholders for the longrun development of Chandigarh and its periphery.
He added that Chandigarh should be made a knowledge hub with the creation of job opportunities in the satellite towns to ease the pressure on civic infrastructure and hailed the members of CII to extend their cooperation.
He said that this part of the country focused on agriculture in the earlier decades and became indispensable for the food security of the country. The need of the hour according to him was the focus on the development of industry to absorb the skilled and semi-skilled people qualified and trained in the various professional institutes of Punjab and Haryana.
“Since most of the units here are small and medium and are clustered they should prepare a draft plan to innovate and improve upon technologies and government can arrange financial and technical support for that. This would help them engage more people and manufacture competitive products.”
Patil stressed the need of synergy between industry and government sector to implement more progressive programmes and design policies with a long term vision to make Chandigarh a model city state.
The members of CII assured him of the requisite support for the inclusive growth of Chandigarh and its periphery.
