Chandigarh
India /
Chandigarh /
World
/ India
/ Chandigarh
/ Chandigarh
World / India / Chandigarh / Chandigarh
city, capital city of state/province/region
Chandigarh is a union territory of India, that serves as the capital of two states, Punjab and Haryana. The name Chandigarh translates as "The Fort of Chandi". The name was coined from an ancient temple called Chandi Mandir, devoted to the Hindu Goddess Chandi, present in the city's vicinity.It is occasionally referred to as The City Beautiful. Chandigarh Capital Region including Mohali, Panchkula and Zirakpur.After the partition of British India into the two nations of India and Pakistan in 1947, the region of Punjab was also split between India and Pakistan. The Indian state of Punjab required a new capital city to replace Lahore, which became part of Pakistan during the partition. After several plans to make additions to existing cities were found to be infeasible for various reasons, the decision to construct a new and planned city was undertaken.
Of all the new town schemes in independent India, the Chandigarh project quickly assumed prime significance, because of the city's strategic location as well as the personal interest of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India. Commissioned by Nehru to reflect the new nation's modern, progressive outlook, Nehru famously proclaimed Chandigarh to be "unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of the nation's faith in the future." Several buildings and layouts in Chandigarh were designed by the French (born Swiss) architect and urban planner, Le Corbusier, in the 1950s. Le Corbusier was in fact the second architect of the city, after the initial master plan was prepared by the American architect-planner Albert Mayer who was working with the Poland-born architect Matthew Nowicki. It was only after Nowicki's death in 1950 that Le Corbusier was pulled into the project.
On 1 November 1966, the newly-formed Indian state of Haryana was carved out of the eastern portion of the Punjab, in order to create Haryana as a majority Hindi speaking state, while the western portion of Punjab retained a mostly Punjabi language-speaking majority and remained as the current day Punjab. However, the city of Chandigarh was on the border, and was thus created into a union territory to serve as capital of both these states. It was the capital of Punjab alone from 1952 to 1966.[6] Chandigarh was due to be transferred to Punjab in 1986, in accordance with an agreement signed in August 1985 by Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, with Sant Harchand Singh Longowal of the Akali Dal. This was to be accompanied by the creation of a new capital for Haryana, but the transfer had been delayed. There is currently a discussion about which villages in southern districts of Punjab should be transferred to Haryana, and about which Punjabi-speaking villages should be transferred to Punjab. But analysts believe that now it is not possible as none of the State governments would like to give up their claim and Chandigarh would remain to be the capital of both states and a union territory.
On 15 July 2007, Chandigarh became the first Indian city to go smoke-free. Smoking at public places was strictly prohibited and considered as a punishable act by Chandigarh Administration but, according to public opinion and a secret survey done by several prominent citizens of the U.T., smoking still exists in Chandigarh, which is not completely smoke-free zone due to delays in the construction of smoking zones promised to by the administration. Recent developments also showed that Chandigarh had became the hub of drugs and a very spoiled part of northern India. The police are recognised as the most effective police in the region, mostly free from corruption with high-spirited officers first taking the cause to make Chandigarh drug-free, but they failed to do so. The roots of drugs lie deep and the area is becoming degraded as modernisation, the term used to cover the decaying values and manners for which the area was once famous. That was followed up by a complete ban on polythene bags with effect from 2 October (the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi) in the year 2008.
Of all the new town schemes in independent India, the Chandigarh project quickly assumed prime significance, because of the city's strategic location as well as the personal interest of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India. Commissioned by Nehru to reflect the new nation's modern, progressive outlook, Nehru famously proclaimed Chandigarh to be "unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of the nation's faith in the future." Several buildings and layouts in Chandigarh were designed by the French (born Swiss) architect and urban planner, Le Corbusier, in the 1950s. Le Corbusier was in fact the second architect of the city, after the initial master plan was prepared by the American architect-planner Albert Mayer who was working with the Poland-born architect Matthew Nowicki. It was only after Nowicki's death in 1950 that Le Corbusier was pulled into the project.
On 1 November 1966, the newly-formed Indian state of Haryana was carved out of the eastern portion of the Punjab, in order to create Haryana as a majority Hindi speaking state, while the western portion of Punjab retained a mostly Punjabi language-speaking majority and remained as the current day Punjab. However, the city of Chandigarh was on the border, and was thus created into a union territory to serve as capital of both these states. It was the capital of Punjab alone from 1952 to 1966.[6] Chandigarh was due to be transferred to Punjab in 1986, in accordance with an agreement signed in August 1985 by Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, with Sant Harchand Singh Longowal of the Akali Dal. This was to be accompanied by the creation of a new capital for Haryana, but the transfer had been delayed. There is currently a discussion about which villages in southern districts of Punjab should be transferred to Haryana, and about which Punjabi-speaking villages should be transferred to Punjab. But analysts believe that now it is not possible as none of the State governments would like to give up their claim and Chandigarh would remain to be the capital of both states and a union territory.
On 15 July 2007, Chandigarh became the first Indian city to go smoke-free. Smoking at public places was strictly prohibited and considered as a punishable act by Chandigarh Administration but, according to public opinion and a secret survey done by several prominent citizens of the U.T., smoking still exists in Chandigarh, which is not completely smoke-free zone due to delays in the construction of smoking zones promised to by the administration. Recent developments also showed that Chandigarh had became the hub of drugs and a very spoiled part of northern India. The police are recognised as the most effective police in the region, mostly free from corruption with high-spirited officers first taking the cause to make Chandigarh drug-free, but they failed to do so. The roots of drugs lie deep and the area is becoming degraded as modernisation, the term used to cover the decaying values and manners for which the area was once famous. That was followed up by a complete ban on polythene bags with effect from 2 October (the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi) in the year 2008.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandigarh
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 30°43'50"N 76°46'49"E
- Panchkula 4.5 km
- Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar 14 km
- Ambala 34 km
- Ambala Cantt 37 km
- Shimla 56 km
- Patiala 57 km
- Saharanpur 106 km
- Karnal 112 km
- Dehradun 116 km
- Haridwar 144 km
- Park 0.3 km
- Govt Model School 21 0.4 km
- Sector 21 0.6 km
- Joggers park 21 0.8 km
- Sector 18 0.8 km
- Sector 22 0.9 km
- Sector 20 Park 1 km
- Sector 20 1.1 km
- Sector 34 1.9 km
- Chandigarh Metropolitan Area 2.8 km
Comments