Reiterating Haryana’s claim on Chandigarh, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Tuesday asked Punjab to make New Chandigarh its capital, leaving Chandigarh to Haryana.

The Chief Minister also asked Punjab to co-operate in solving the waters issue by sitting across the table. The remarks were made at a panel discussion on the holistic development of the tri-city i.e. Panchkula, Chandigarh and Mohali here on Monday.

Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Badnore and Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh,

were also present at the panel discussion.

Mullanpur, adjoining Chandigarh and Mohali was rechristened as 'New Chandigarh' by the Punjab Government due to its proximity to the union territory.

With the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, dispute over various issues, including river waters, joint capital have time and again erupted between Punjab and Haryana.

The neighboring State Governments of Punjab and Haryana are also often at loggerheads over the issue of maintaining of 60:40 ratio in the posts of the Chandigarh Administration.

Hry stakes claim on Chandigarh Speaking at the panel discussion on Tuesday, Manohar Lal said, “Both Haryana and Punjab should co-operate with each other to resolve various inter-state water issues in the interest of people of both states. Punjab should not make it a prestige issue. Issues related to water between the two states can be solved by dialogue.”

“I did not like to refer to the water issue on this platform as the development of tri-city was the main focus of today’s panel discussion but the remarks made earlier by the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh, have forced me to make a comment on this”, the Chief Minister said.

While describing Punjab as an elder brother of Haryana, Manohar Lal said, Haryana faced serious water crisis as compared to Punjab. More area under the dark zone falls in Haryana than in Punjab, and, at some places, the underground water level has gone down to 1,500 feet, he added.

Continuing his focus on river-water disputes, the Chief Minister said he had recently written a letter to his Punjab counterpart to join hands in checking the wasteful flow of Ravi waters to Pakistan by constructing dams and reservoirs to utilise the wates and solve the crisis in both states.

The issue of Haryana getting its share of river water through the Hansi-Butana canal is also hanging fire since long. Resultantly, the districts of southern Haryana, especially Mahendergarh, Rewari and Nuh, are facing water scarcity, he added.