Though the Chandigarh Administration has finally raised serious objections to the Nayagaon masterplan in a letter to the Punjab government, the latter seems to be in no mood to make amends to the plan notified in January this year.

High-rise buildings
Despite Punjab’s own draft plan highlighting Kansal as an ecologically and tectonically fragile (prone to earthquakes) area and Chandigarh Administration demanding restrictions on height of buildings for the entire area and not just the area lying within a kilometre of the Capitol Complex, Punjab is willing to make an exception for just a kilometre and not more. So while buildings within that radius will have a height restriction of 15 metres, there will be no restriction in the rest of Kansal where the vertical growth of buildings would be decided as per the formula of the National Building Code of 1.5 times road width and setback.

Connectivity
Connectivity and access through Chandigarh is another issue of contention between Punjab and UT. A strip of land will be required through Khuda Ali Sher village for integration of planning and services of Kansal with the other two villages of Nayagaon — Karoran and Nada. Punjab has requested the UT Administration for construction of 30-metre-wide road through Khuda Ali Sher and widening other roads. But Chandigarh has refused to oblige.
Stating that the UT cannot deny cooperation on improving Nayagaon’s connectivity, Manoranjan Kalia, Minister for Punjab’s Local Government Department, which has prepared the masterplan, said Punjab and Chandigarh are inter-dependent and UT also has its sewerage system and access roads through Punjab. “Improving connectivity is a part of the development process and so are high-rises. When Le Corbusier planned the city, he could not have imagined the kind of development which will take place here in future. It is not fair to ask Punjab not to allow high-rises in Kansal just because it is the backdrop of Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex,” asserts Kalia.

... contd.