Chandigarh Management Association (CMA) organised today a session on “Vision Chandigarh” at Bhartiya Vidhya Bhavan here today. Mr. Satya Pal Jain, Ex-Member of Parliament expressed his apolitical views on the development of the city to an august audience of CMA.
Mr. Jain regretted that citizens of Chandigarh are not involved in the decision making process for the development of Chandigarh. He said the union territory is considered by center as a laboratory for providing training to IAS officers who are not serious in taking long standing view for the development of the city. There are many people living in the city who are retired but possess long experience in handling various aspects of development of the city. These people need to be involved in City development projects.Mr. Jain suggested that Government should constitute a joint interstate integrated council for the development of the Tricity. He said he is not averse to the concept of Chandigarh Capital Region (CCR) similar on the lines of NCR for solving the integrated problems of Power supply, Water, transportation, housing for the people coming to Chandigarh for work from the adjoining cities.
While referring to the growing traffic problem of the city Mr. Jain said that no decision has been taken for implementing Metro in the city for the last 10 years, though the same person is representing Chandigarh in Lok Sabha. He said that city should go for flyovers and metro on similar lines as in Delhi. Flyover from city to Railway Station and Airport is essential to solve traffic problem, he added.
To solve water problem, a dam should be built at Gagger River to supply water to the Chandigarh rather than depending only on Kajoli Water supply, said Mr. jain.
Mr. Jain said he is not against High Rise buildings to cope up with the increasing population of the city, while still preserving the heritage spots and the core concept of city layout and its greenery. He said that about 10 Marlas plots and lesser should be allowed for building housing in new sectors.
While giving his views on the education provisions in the city, Mr. Jain said that there should not be any restrictions, based on ranking, for the students to get admission in various colleges to provide them education in their young age, when Government spends million on the Adult Education. He said that number of seats should be increased in various courses to the extent, that students with first division or above can get admission into the courses of their choice.