Squeezed — Punjab and Haryana are locked in space jam

Haryana Speaker turns to Governor for more space in Secretariat complex shared with Punjab.

Room for discontent: The Punjab and Haryana Secretariat in Chandigarh.

Over five decades of living together have not made Punjab and Haryana happy neighbours, especially on the issue of sharing space in the erstwhile Punjab Assembly building. Since Haryana was formed in 1966, the two States have been sharing space in the building for their Secretariats and Assemblies.

The space crunch has forced Haryana Speaker Gian Chand Gupta to write to Punjab Governor-cum-Chandigarh Administrator V.P. Singh Badnore seeking more space. The letter comes days after Punjab Speaker Rana K.P. Singh made it clear that the State did not have any surplus area to spare.

Why Punjab and Haryana share a capital in Chandigarh, which is also a Union Territory

“The Governor has assured me that he will constitute a committee to look into the matter,” Mr. Gupta told

The Hindu .

“As per our records, 20 rooms, which had been designated for Haryana, have not been given to us... We should have got a 40% share of space in the building under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, but got only 27% so far,” he said.

Mr. Gupta has written to the Governor, seeking steps for demarcation under the terms of creation of Haryana from Punjab in 1966.

In his June 2 letter to the Governor, Mr. Gupta said the additional rooms under the control of the Punjab Assembly Secretariat are not being put to any constructive use and are only being used as stores.

The 64,430 sq ft building was trifurcated in 1966 — 24,630 sq ft for Haryana, 30,890 sq ft for the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and 10,910 sq ft for the Punjab Vidhan Parishad, which ironically does not exist.

Mr. Gupta had earlier written to the Punjab Speaker, who last month said he had got the matter examined and “nothing is due” from Punjab to Haryana.