CHANDIGARH: As the Punjab assembly passed a resolution reiterating the state’s claim on Chandigarh, the capital it shares jointly with Haryana, a debate has again erupted over the contentious issue. However, some of the documents accessed by TOI have revealed that in 1970, the Union government had decided to give Chandigarh to Punjab.
“After very carefully weighing the claims of the two states, they have decided that the capital project area of Chandigarh should as a whole go to Punjab,” says a formal communication issued by the Union government on January 29, 1970. This decision was taken almost three years after Haryana came into being as a separate state after reorganisation of Punjab in 1966.
