‘Make UT a city state’: Tewari roots for new administrative structure

CHANDIGARH:Terming the current governance and administrative structure in Chandigarh as a “nightmare”, Congress candidate for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat Manish Tewari said, “Chandigarh needs a new administrative structure. It needs to be reimagined.”

In an interaction with TOI here on Wednesday, Tewari said it would be his topmost priority to see that the city gets a proper legal architecture and a governance structure, which is futuristic and explores the potential of the city.

Problems that have been languishing for the past two decades, like regularization, need-based changes, ban on share-wise property sales etc, said Tewari, “Stem from a fundamental problem of outdated governance structure, which is not geared to serve the city 58 years down the line.”

Talking about the inception of the city’s governance and administrative system, Tewari said, “The fundamental problem is that the administrative structure of Chandigarh was designed for an ad hoc period of five years. Chandigarh became a union territory on Jan 1, 1966. The administrative structure which was in play was an interim arrangement. It was supposed to lapse in 1971. Now, that has got perpetuated into perpetuity. You have a situation whereby Chandigarh can move from a union territory to a city state.”

Tewari said there is a mishmash of legislations that govern the city, like Periphery Act, Punjab Capital Development Regulation Act and others which have not been updated as per the city’s evolving requirements.

“Then there is a multiplicity of administrators. It begins with the home minister, then there is a governor, followed by the adviser, MP and municipal corporation,” said Tewari.

‘Make plans for next 25 yrs’

Tewari said: “The whole administrative structure must be streamlined, and it must be made peoplefriendly by ensuring that there is a comprehensive omnibus legislation, which takes all aspects into consideration and looks at the overall governance of Chandigarh.”

Recommending a longterm perspective for developing the city’s new governance system, Tewari said, “See, essentially, when you look at a city or when you look at a state, you don’t look at it in a fiveyear perspective. You look at it over a 25-year period horizon. So, when you plan for any state or any city, you plan for the next 25 years.”

“Be it genomics, artificial intelligence or robotics, Chandigarh has an enormous potential to leverage the fourth industrial revolution. Why is it that Mohali or even Panchkula is doing better than Chandigarh? That is primarily because the ecosystem which can energize the fourth industrial revolution just doesn’t exist here,” the Congress nominee said.

So, when you design a legislative or a legal architecture, the fundamental purpose is threefold — it should generate employment for the young, it should be people friendly in terms of access to services and caters to the needs of the senior citizens, which is growing by the day, Tewari said.

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