8/3/2019 Changing Phase of Chandigarh

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/changing-phase-of-chandigarh 1/2

Changing Phase of Chandigarh; the city beautiful

By J.N.Vohra

To live in modern city of Chandigarh in 60s was reviving the lost hope and belief of somedisplaced persons from West Pakistan and uplifting the prestige of families coming from smaller

cities from the erstwhile Punjab State.

During those days, I visited Chandigarh in summer and winter vacations and during festivals. I

was always charmed with the genius of Le Corbusier, who created the layout of Chandigarh on

chess-board pattern with rectangular sectors lined up in

sequence.

Those were the days when we conveniently walked through

Rose Garden or Sukhna Lake for our evening stroll or going toSector 22 for window shopping or meeting friends and

acquaintances roaming around at the market places. Sector 17

was not yet developed except for Neelam Theater and Plaza

through which a road passed for the plying of the bus

service.

There were hardly any cars moving around or parked at

the market places. Even two wheelers were possessed by

few. People walked within the sectors to markets or

cycled the distances. I remember walking to University to

visit library and visiting relatives residing in other sectors.

It may look strange today that in those days Government officials, persons belonging to legal

profession and visitors and clients, either walked or bicycled to reach the secretariat and

Courts. Rickshaw and bus service was available for those who preferred to use these paid

services. There were no cars with red lights on top, no sirens hurling cars moving around. There

was little vehicular traffic.

The city was pedestrian’s paradise. There was hardly any

congestion at public places, secretariat or high court parking

areas or at market places. There were no big queues in PGI for

outdoor patients or for beds in general wards.

People living in Chandigarh had come from various cities; mostly

Government servants transferred here, doctors and lawyers, retired government servants, mix

8/3/2019 Changing Phase of Chandigarh

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/changing-phase-of-chandigarh 2/2

of marginal and noteworthy business people and persons looking for lucrative occupation or for

employment. These people possessed different economic and social status back at the places of 

their origin.

Residents were yet exploring their social life. Cinema was

the only source of entertainment. Political personalities

visiting Chandigarh addressed the audience at Sector 17

parade ground. All sort of people, high or low, thronged the

place to listen to them. I remember having listened to prime

minister Sh Lal Bahadur Shastri here making his speech

when 1965 war with Pakistan was still in progress.

Chandigarh is significant for the way it was conceived, rather than what it is today. The city has

now become a place which we, the early residents, could not foresee in 60s. Those persons on

foot now possess cars and consider as low prestige to walk up to market places even less thanhalf a kilometer away.

Traffic on roads has multiplied manifold. One has to undergo harassment for parking their

vehicles at market places at high court and PGI with much harassment to public. Status of 

persons is now identified with the models of cars, or even with the car number plates. The

early residents of Chandigarh watch with remorse and dismay to see this changing phase of city

beautiful of today, which was conceived as a place of esteem and ease with a target population.