Chandigarh

From Freepedia

Image:IndiaChandigarh.png Chandigarh is a city in India that serves as the capital of two states: Punjab and Haryana. However, the city does not belong to either state. Rather, the city is administered by the federal government and hence classified as a union territory. Chandigarh was due to transfer to Punjab alone in 1986, accompanied by the creation of a new capital for Haryana, but the transfer has been delayed while agreement is sought on the districts of Punjab that should be transferred to Haryana in exchange. Chandigarh is also the name of this union territory.

Several buildings in Chandigarh were designed by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier in the 1950s. Le Corbusier was in fact the second architect of the city, after the initial master plan was prepared by the American architect-planner Albert Mayer who was working with the Polish-born architect Matthew Nowicki. It was only after Nowicki's untimely death in 1950 that Le Corbusier was pulled into the project. The city was commissioned by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India, to reflect the new nation's modern, progressive outlook. Nehru famously proclaimed Chandigarh to be "unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of the nation's faith in the future."

Ultimately, Le Corbusier was responsible for the overall master plan of the city, and the design of some of the major public buildings including the High Court, Assembly, Secretariat, the Museum and Art Gallery, School of Art and the Lake Club. Most of the other housing was done by Le Corbusier's cousin Pierre Jeanneret, the English husband and wife team of Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, along with a team of nine Indian architects -- M. N. Sharma, A. Ar. Prabhawalkar, B. P. Mathur, Piloo Moody, U. E. Chowdhury, N. S. Lamba, J. L. Malhotra, J. S. Dethe and Aditya Prakash.

Chandigarh is laid down in a grid pattern. The city is divided into sectors, each sector being 800m x 1200m. The sectors act as mini cities, self-sufficient neighborhoods, each with its own markets, places of worship, schools and colleges within 10 minutes walking distance from anywhere in each sector. Interestingly, while the city has sectors ranging from 1 to 60 (and increasing) Chandigarh has no Sector 13. An apocryphal story attributes this fact to Le Corbusier's belief that the number 13 is unlucky.

Sector 17 is the city's heart and retail centre. It is a favourite haunt for the city inhabitants for an evening out and has many restaurants and hotels. Sector 17 is also renowned for its many shops which carry a huge diversity of goods including most Indian and foreign brands.

Chandigarh is known for its high literacy rate (97%). Its popular schools and colleges include St.John's High School, St.Xavier's, Sacred Heart Convent High School, Carmel Convent High School, St. Kabir High School, St. Stephens High School, DAV School, GCG (girls), GCG (Boys), Home Science College for Girls, Guru Gobind Singh College, Govt. Teacher Training College and DAV College.

Chandigarh also houses many institutes of higher learning, such as the Punjab Engineering College which has a 146 acre campus in Sector 12, and the Panjab University in sector 14.

One of the unusual features of Chandigarh is the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, built over 30 years by Nek Chand, a former road supervisor, from items discarded during the construction of Chandigarh. The Rose Garden is in Sector 16, and Sukhana Lake in Sector 1.

Another landmark of Chandigarh is Sukhna Lake in the north. It is great place to go to and very popular among the locals.

Kishangarh IT Park is the city's attempt to break into the IT world. Chandigarh's infrastructure, proximity to Delhi and Punjab, and IT talent pool attracts IT businesses looking for office space in the area. Major Indian firms and multinational corporations including Dell, Infosys, Satyam, Reliance, and Ranbaxy have offices in the park.

Chandigarh started out with 2 major hospitals - the PGI in Sector 12, and the General Hospital in Sector 16. Recently, major health groups have built private hospitals in Chandigarh, such as Fortis in neighboring Mohali and Max Healthcare.

Chandigarh is 78.6% Hindu, 16.1% Sikh, and about 4% Muslim.

External links

• Book on Chandigarh
• http://www.pals.org/pec/chandigarh/chandigarh.html
• Nek Chand Foundation
• Government Museum and Art Gallery
• Official Website of PEC - Deemed University
• PEC Students' Web Portal