CHANDIGARH
Chandigarh, the city
of enthusiastic people. The city was planned by the famous French architect
Le Corbusier. Picturesquely located at the foothills of Shivaliks, it is
known as one of the best experiments in urban planning and modern
architecture in the twentieth century in India.
Chandigarh derives its name from the temple of "Chandi Mandir" located in
the vicinity of the site selected for the city. The deity 'Chandi', the
goddess of power and a fort of 'garh' laying beyond the temple gave the city
its name "Chandigarh-The City Beautiful".
The city has a pre-historic past. The gently sloping plains on which modern
Chandigarh exists, was in the ancient past, a wide lake ringed by a marsh.
The fossil remains found at the site indicate a large variety of aquatic and
amphibian life, which was supported by that environment. About 8000 years
ago the area was also known to be a home to the Harappans.
Since the medieval thruż modern era, the area was part of the large and
prosperous Punjab Province which was divided into East & West Punjab during
partition of the country in 1947. The city was conceived not only to serve
as the capital of East Punjab, but also to resettle thousands of refugees
who had been uprooted from West Punjab.
In March, 1948, the Government of Punjab, in consultation with the
Government of India, approved the area of the foothills of the Shivaliks as
the site for the new capital. The location of the city site was a part of
the erstwhile Ambala district as per the 1892-93 gazetteer of District
Ambala. The foundation stone of the city was laid in 1952. Subsequently, at
the time of reorganization of the state on 01.11.1966 into Punjab, Haryana
and Himachal Pardesh, the city assumed the unique distinction of being the
capital city of both, Punjab and Haryana while it itself was declared as a
Union Territory and under the direct control of the Central Government.
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