History of Chandigarh

Chandigarh is also known as the City beautiful, is a city in Northern India that serves as the capital of two states: Punjab and Haryana. The city is administered by the Government of India and hence classified as a Union territory. Chandigarh is known for its high standard of living and tops the list of Indian states with a human development index of 0.674.

History of Chandigarh dates back to 1947 when India was partitioned into two nations, India and Pakistan. The Indian state of Punjab required a new capital since the old capital, Lahore was in Pakistan. Thus, the decision to construct a new city was taken after considering many cities. The project quickly gained momentum since then prime Minister; Jawaharlal Nehru took personal interest in it. Nehru described Chandigarh as "Unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of nation's faith in future". Most of the buildings and layouts in Chandigarh were designed by Swiss born French architect and planner, Le Corbusier in the 1950s. He was in fact the second architect of the city, after the initial master plan was done by American architect planner Albert Mayer and a polish born architect Mathew Nowicki. Le Corbusier was pulled into the project after Nowicki's death.

In March, 1948, the government of Punjab in consultation with the government of India approved a 114.59 sq. km of land at the foot of Shivalik hills in Ropar district as the site for the new capital. The city of Chandigarh was on the border of Punjab and Haryana after the formation of the state of Haryana in 1966 and was created into a union territory to serve as capital of both these states. An agreement that Chandigarh would be handed over to Punjab after the creation of a new capital for Haryana was not fulfilled since some of the terms in Agreement was not resolved.

Hotels in Chandigarh
Taj Residency Hotel	Taj Chandigarh hotel