Chandigarh, (Samajweekly) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal has requested Union Home Minister Amit Shah to review the Centre’s decision to appoint a full-fledged Administrator for Chandigarh by divesting the Punjab Governor of this charge.
Terming this as another attempt to dilute Punjab’s claim to its capital city during his meeting with the Home Minister, Sukhbir Badal said that Chandigarh is an inseparable part of Punjab and should be transferred to the parent state as soon as possible.
He conveyed to the Home Minister that there is no reason to appoint a full-fledged Administrator for the Union Territory from outside the state.
“If at all an Administrator has to be appointed till such time the Union Territory is not transferred to Punjab, the officer should be from the parent state. Earlier also, the Chief Commissioner of Chandigarh used to be from Punjab,” the SAD chief said.
Sukhbir Badal also informed Shah that all decisions taken at the time of reorganisation of Punjab are being violated one after the other.
“Separate cadres have been created to reduce the strength of Punjab service officers in the UT and now even the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory) officers are being posted on key posts in utter violation of the 60:40 formula,” he said.
Stating that instead of correcting the wrongs being done to Punjab vis-a-vis Chandigarh, Sukhbir Badal said that it is condemnable that the Union government has decided to dilute Punjab’s role in Chandigarh even further.
