THE PARLIAMENTARY standing committee on urban development has questioned the role of the coordination committee constituted to ensure balanced development of the area falling within the influence zone of Chandigarh. The coordination committee was constituted in 1972 by the Government of India to guide and coordinate the growth of Chandigarh and amicably resolve the issues of coordination in urban planning between Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh. Since inception, the committee has met for 26 times with no tangible outcome. [related-post] In a report tabled recently, the standing committee observed that as the coordination committee does not have any statutory power, the state governments and UT Administration are ducking the issues and violating the Master Plan and inter-state regional plan. The parliamentary standing committee cited controversial Tata Housing project as an example of the coordination committee’s failure. Commenting on the controversial Tata Housing project, which falls in the catchment area of Sukhna Lake, the committee stated that the project would result in degradation of the habitat and disturb thousands of migratory birds which come to the lake every year. The Punjab government had sanctioned 50 acres of land right behind the Capital Complex, that is, zero kilometre from the periphery of Chandigarh. Initially this area was given to the MLAs of the Punjab legislature for construction of an MLAs’ society. The committee observed that under dubious circumstances, the land of the society spread over 52 acres was transferred/sold to the Tata Housing Camelot Company. The company intends to build 35 high-rise towers, thereby completely obstructing the view of the Shivalik Hills with an unnatural and concrete barrier between the Capital Complex and the hills, and in complete defiance of the original planning as conceived by Le Corbusier. The ministry of urban development in its response submitted that the matter of allotment of land is a state subject and the ministry was not required to be consulted in this matter. They stated that allotment of land does not fall under the purview of the co-ordination committee. The issue of coordination committee not having statutory mandate for the preparation of inter-state regional plan for Chandigarh was taken up by Haryana at a meeting held in March 2015. The standing committee expressed its anguish on the fact that the ministry had not taken up this issue at the Cabinet level. The committee directed the ministry to take up the matter with the Cabinet to explore ways and means to strengthen the power and functions of the coordination committee. The committee said that such coordination committee should have the power to monitor and oversee balanced urbanisation of the city of Chandigarh and its nearby areas, and to access the impact of development programmes already implemented and those being implemented in the township on the surrounding eco-system.
