CHANDIGARH CITY GUIDE

CHANDIGARH CITY GUIDE

Chandigarh is the first planned city of India and it was planned by a French architect named Le Corbusier. It is bordered by Punjab on its North and Western part and on the Eastern and Southern part is Haryana that is sharing its borders. It was named as one of the union territories of India on November 1966 and the total land are id 1145 square kilometres. It is situated in the Northern part of India and is bounded by three states of India namely Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and it lies at the foot of the Shivalik range of Hills which is 365 meters above the sea level. The Patiali Ki Rao and the Sukhna Choe are the two rivulets that is the source of water to the union territory and are approximately 114 square kilometres. Mohali, Patiala and Ropar are the few districts that fence Chandigarh and the border of the Himachal Pradesh leading to Shimla isn’t very far as well. Chandigarh is often known as the Pensioner’s Paradise since people live here who work under the above said places and the Government is an important establishment with having three Governments having their headquarters here at Chandigarh and often people who serve any of the any three governments would retire to settle down here at Amritsar. The climate of Chandigarh is extremely hot during the summers with chilly winters. The mark of the monsoon makes it a pleasant with humidity rising high during the daytime. The best months to travel to is during August to November when the weather is refreshing with not the extreme type of climate and making it comfortable to travel.

Chandigarh was a dream project of the first Prime Minister of Independent India Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru and is known as the finest of all the experiments in the planning of a new city with all the modern amenities and construction of the 20^th Century. The name Chandigarh stem from the temple of the Chandi the goddess of strength and garh which means a fort which is just adjacent to the chandi temple and hence Chandigarh also meaning a beautiful city. Chandigarh has an ancient past and it was marked by an extended lake encircled by wetlands. It is known as the inhabitants of the Harappan civilisation inhabited this city some eight thousand years ago. It was divided into east and west Punjab during the medieval period and still existent till the independent India. Ambala is the main important district. Chandigarh has a total land area of 114 square kilometres with a total population according to 2001 census nine thousands of the urban and seven thousands of the total rural population that accounts for 7900 total density of population per square kilometres. The literacy rates are par with the most literate state of Indian, Karnataka almost having a literacy rate above 81%. Chandigarh is situated at the foothills of the Shivalik range and is a part of the Himalayan bionetwork and ecology. It has the Kandi in the north east and Sirowal and the sedimentary plain in the rest of the terrain. The surface of the soil is primarily very Stoney and hence it has the most wonderful place of interest wherein all the statues and sculpture are made of these gravel and stone and the very nature of the soil prevalent in the Union Territory.

The entire city is planned as a human anatomy like the head the heart and the four limbs. The offices of administration have its seat at the centre of the city as forming the ultimate system of working of the city into a civil and disciplined way.  The entire city has been demarcated into different sectors and each sector is eight hundred meter *twelve hundred metre which is encircled by roads to speed up the fast moving of the traffic and easy access to the entry into each household. There is a green strip of land which stays unoccupied always since it holds the place for sports, school activities for walks and a place for outdoor activities. Any kind of mode of transport id prohibited onto this stretch of land and only battery operated cars or simply by walking is the mode of transport in this land area which is far from the pollution level as compared to any other city of the country.

There are different land zone where one is allowed to operate industry and is known as the industrial area and outside this premises no type of industry is allowed to operate and is a punishable if found guilty, this makes the city all the more easy to breathe in fresh air and the quality of air is more pure since the industrial effluents don’t invade the city living. Sector 17 has been called as the heaven for the walkers since no vehicles is allowed to enter this sector and it was named by the French architect Le Corbusier himself.  There are various places of interest the Sukhna Lake being the most important place being a water body with boating facility for the visitors and is a pleasant ride during the summer evenings. Then follows the Government Museum for Art ,the Rock Garden, Zakir Hussain Rose Garden, the Elante Mall, the famous Open Hand sculpture, ChattBir Zoo, the Doll Museum, the Tower of Shadows, Punjab Cricket association stadium the mecca for cricket lovers , Leisure Valley and the capitol Complex housing the administrative, the legislative and the judiciary at the centre of the planned city.

Chandigarh has the largest per capita in the form of number of vehicles and has well-kept roads. The Chandigarh transport Undertaking has the authority to operate the buses from its terminals into the neighbouring states and also in the city as well. Chandigarh railway station is situated in the Northern Railway Zone of the Indian Railways and is connected to almost all the major cities of the country. Chandigarh airport is the base for the loading and unloading of imported and exported goods and is a Customs Airport for the country. It has no commercial flights operational since the presence of an Air Force Base sharing the same runway.

Notable actress and parliamentarian Kironn Kher is a native of this planned city amongst other is the flying Sikh – Milkha Singh, Kapil Dev, the great comedian of the eighties Jaspal Bhatti, Yuvraj Singh the most known faces among many other notable personalities of Chandigarh.

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