The Chandigarh Conclave

Obviously, the most discussed man at the conclave was Le Corbusier. The speakers included those who had worked with him, such as architect Jeet Malhotra, those who knew him personally and had admired his work, for example the design connoisseur Sardar Patwant Singh, and conservationists who are concerned with preserving the spirit of Chandigarh, such as A.G.K. Menon. Giving additional insights and critical points of view were government representatives, who included Jagmohan, the Union Minister for Tourism and Culture, the Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, Lt. Gen JFR Jacob retd and the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt. Amrinder Singh retd.

Union Minister Jagmohan, who is not known to mince words, set the tone of the conclave. He unveiled a series of plans underway to preserve the country8217;s cultural heritage, and gave some concrete instances of his own attempts to ensure that urban development did not fall into the hands of the unscrupulous. The resettlement colonies initiated by him in Delhi were suggested by him as a solution to the burgeoning slums in Chandigarh, and elsewhere. The other lead speakers on the following days, Lt Gen JFR Jacob, also ruminated about the need to address the problems of the homeless migrants. In an important insight, he pointed that Le Corbusier8217;s design needed to be preserved 8212; but also improved upon in the changing times. Similarly, the Punjab Chief Minister was concerned on the pressures Chandigarh faced, including pollution. He too, showed keen interest in the idea of a dormitory town close by which could perhaps ease the problems of Chandigarh. Among the keynote speakers, Sardar Patwant Singh gave an additional fillip to the idea of a dormitory town. But he also re-iterated the need to take pride in Chandigarh. The conservationist A.G.K Menon brought out the irony of preserving only those ancient monuments that are deemed of 8216;heritage value8217;. Conserving urban, relatively modern structures or urban neighbourhoods is still not an easily accepted idea. He attributed this to the lack of awareness and lack of education among town planners. In his view, heritage zones would encourage urban area conservation. Gurmeet Rai, also a conservationist and architect gave a detailed background to the legal aspects dealing with conservation and vehemently advocated community participation in conservation activities.

Other special papers included a critique on the landscaping pattern of Chandigarh, presented by the landscape architect Professor Ravinder Bhan. Dr S S Bhatti, a founder-teacher at the Chandigarh College of Architecture gave an overview of the building of Chandigarh. The conclave finally led to a lively discussion, in which some of the citizens who had responded to the first-ever poll conducted by The Indian Express Voice of Chandigarh 8212; were enthusiastic participants.

The survey results , presented by N P Singh, Director Corporate The Indian Express, clearly indicated that Chandigarh residents wanted an improvement in civic amenities, and public transport. In the final analysis, there is little doubt that the results from the survey will, along with the presentations at the conclave, give city planners a focused, directional impetus.