The resolution was passed during the one-day special session of the Assembly, called amid outrage over the implementation of central services rules in Chandigarh, in the absence of the two BJP legislators, who had earlier staged a walkout.
The Punjab Assembly today passed a resolution seeking the immediate transfer of Chandigarh to the state. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who presented a resolution against the implementation of central service rules in Chandigarh, accused the Centre of trying to upset the balance in the administration of the Union Territory and other common assets.
The members of all other political parties, including the Congress, the Shrimani Akali Dal and the BSP, which has one MLA in the Assembly, threw their support behind the resolution and called the Centre’s recent move “dictatorial and autocratic”.
In the coming days, the Punjab government will seek time from President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the issue and assured the House that Punjab’s side will be presented strongly before them, Bhagwant Mann said, reported news agency PTI. He urged all parties to come together in protecting the interests of Punjab.
Bhagwant Mann also said that the House has, in the past too, passed a number of resolutions urging the central government to transfer Chandigarh to Punjab.
“I want to give a guarantee to the people of Punjab that we will strongly fight and protect the state’s rights, be it in the Vidhan Sabha or Parliament or on any other platform,” Mann asserted.
“Punjab was reorganised through the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 wherein, the state of Punjab was reorganised into the state of Haryana, the Union Territory of Chandigarh and some parts of Punjab were given to the then Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh,” the resolution stated.
“Since then, a balance has been maintained in the administration of common assets like the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), by way of giving management positions in some proportion to nominees of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Through many of its recent actions, the Centre has been trying to upset this balance,” it said.
