No plan to have separate independent Administrator for Chandigarh: MHA
Darpan News Desk IANS, 13 Aug, 2021 10:24 AM
New Delhi, Aug 13 (IANS) The Union Home Ministry on Friday clarified that it has not taken any decision to divest the Punjab Governor of the responsibility of Chandigarh's Administrator and neither was any such proposal under contemplation.
The Home Ministry's response came after the Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal's tweet apprehending that the Centre was planning to appoint a full- fledged Administrator for Chandigarh.
"The apprehension expressed in Shri Sukhbir Singh Badal's tweet that he met and urged the Union Home Minister to review the Union Government's decision to appoint a full-fledged Administrator for Chandigarh by divesting the Governor of Punjab of this charge, is unfounded," the Home Ministry spokesperson said in a tweet.
Badal, in his tweet, had said: "Met & urged Home minister Amit Shah to review the Union govt's decision to appoint a full-fledged administrator for Chandigarh by divesting Punjab governor of this charge. It's another attempt to dilute Punjab's claim to its capital city, which is totally unacceptable".
The Ministry also clarified that Badal has not raised this issue with the Union Home Minister.
In the meeting with Shah on August 11, the SAD chief said that he had noted Chandigarh was an inseparable part of Punjab and should be transferred to it as soon as possible and that there was no reason to appoint a full-fledged Administrator for it from outside the state.
India and Pakistan on Thursday signed an agreement to operationalise the Kartarpur Corridor even as the ticklish issue of a $20 service fee imposed by Islamabad remained unresolved.
Even Emperor Akbar had lifted the 'Jizya' tax on non-Muslims, showing respect for secular sentiment, he pointed out, urging Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to reconsider the $20 fee in light of the Sikh pilgrims' sentiments.
October 25 is the 30th death anniversary of Sahir Ludhianvi. Presented below is an exclusive extract from the book, "Sahir - A Literary Portrait", by Surinder Deol
Eighty-six-year-old Banarasi Lal Chawla vividly recalls the day when he was strewing the ashes of his daughter Kalpana Chawla in the hills of Zion National Park in the US.
They attribute this the BJP's failure to cross the halfway mark in the 90-member Assembly. It could win only 40 seats against 47 in the 2014. The Congress has won 31 seats.
