-SAYS FINE BALANCE BETWEEN PUNJAB & HARYANA SHOULD NOT BE DISTURBED
-ALSO CALLS FOR RESOLUTION OF PENDING TERRITORIAL DISPUTE & RESTORATION OF CHANDIGARH TO PUNJAB
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, seeking cadre protection for Punjab in Chandigarh and his intervention to ensure that the fine balance in sharing of resources and officials in the Union Territory between the states of Punjab and Haryana is not allowed to be disturbed.
The Chief Minister also urged the Home Minister to resolve the pending territorial dispute and restore Chandigarh to Punjab, being its legitimate original capital.
Expressing concern over the constant effort seen over the past few years to disturb the ‘fine balance’ in sharing officers/officials and other resources of Union Territory, Chandigarh between Haryana and Punjab, the Chief Minister urged Rajnath to advise the Ministry not to induct UT cadre officers into the administration of Union Territory, Chandigarh.
Captain Amarinder Singh also asked the Home Minister not to curtail the role and responsibilities of the officers of Haryana and Punjab, as assigned to them in a pre-determined ratio of share. He further sought restoration of the role of Senior Superintendent of Police, Chandigarh, as Head of the District Police as earlier.
In his letter, the Chief Minister urged the Home Minister not to induct DySPs and other officials from UT cadre into Chandigarh, thus maintaining the share of Haryana as also of Punjab, till such time the pending territorial dispute between these two States is finally settled.
Captain Amarinder Singh noted that recently, the powers of Senior Superintendent of Police, who is an IPS Officer of Punjab cadre, have been curtailed, making him SSP (Law & Order). Likewise, a decision seems to have been taken to induct more DySPs of UT cadre though all posts of DySPs in Chandigarh are filled with officers from Punjab and Haryana in a pre-determined ratio, he said, adding that these decisions were clearly avoidable as they had the potential of causing bigger unrest in the region.
Asserting that Chandigarh undoubtedly was an integral part of Punjab, the Chief Minister said that being Punjab’s capital, no other can have any claim on it, denying parent State its territorial jurisdiction thereon. Nevertheless, subsequent to the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966, the territorial dispute remains unresolved, he added, pointing out that, “During this period a fine balance in sharing officers/officials and other resources of Union Territory, Chandigarh between Haryana and Punjab has been achieved with an advantage of hard-earned peace in Punjab.”
The letter further said, “Unfortunately, during the past few years, it has been observed that there is a constant effort to disturb this fine balance achieved after a great deal of effort. The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has been inducting more officers of UT cadre and other Union Territories into the administration of Chandigarh without realizing implications of such avoidable decisions. There has been the reduction in departments allocated to officers of Punjab and Haryana as also increase in a number of UT cadre officers in Chandigarh.”
The Chief Minister asked the Home Minister to consider the matter and issue appropriate instructions accordingly.
