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Issue:January' 2018

CHANDIGARH DIARY

Dhawan as AAP candidate

V.P. Prabhakar

Harmohan Dhawan Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal announced at Barnala (Punjab) on January 20 that former Union minister Harmohan Dhawan would be the AAP candidate for Chandigarh for the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Dhawan was present at AAP's Barnala rally. He was given a rousing reception near The Tribune chowk when he returned from Barnala on January 20 night by his supporters and was profusely garlanded.
The veteran leader said he would fight the election on the "promises versus performance" slogan. He left the BJP in November last year.

In 1989 he had contested for the Chandigarh seat on the Janata Party ticket and was elected to the Lok Sabha. He served as Civil Aviation Minister in the then Chandra Shekhar government.

With his announcement it has become clear that there will be a triangular contest for the Chandigarh seat involving the BJP, the Congress and AAP. At present, the BJP's Kirron Kher is an MP from Chandigarh. She is quite active as she takes a lot of interest in the activities of the Municipal Corporation and also had been raising issues concerning Chandigarh in the Lok Sabha.

A Congress dilemma

Navjot Kaur Sidhu Navjot Kaur Sidhu, wife of Punjab's well known Congress leader and former Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, has created a flutter in local politics by officially seeking the Congress ticket to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Chandigarh. She has handed over a letter to local Congress president Pradeep Chhabra.
The development is significant as the party’s old face, Pawan Kumar Bansal, and another senior leader, Manish Tewari, are already in the race for the Congress ticket. Bansal has also been appointed chairman of the Congress campaign committee.

Navjot Kaur Sidhu said she would get freedom to work in the city. No one has really worked for Chandigarh’s development the way people want it. The single window system can really be implemented here because people do not have to work with so many ministers, she pointed out.

Yamuna basin-states come together for a big dam

Six states --- Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand --- on January 11 signed an agreement to construct Rs 4596 crore Renukaji Multipurpose Dam in Sirmaur district to meet their water needs.

The project will also generate 40 megawatt (MW) of power during peak flow and is proposed to be executed by the Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (HPPCL).

“After the construction of the multi-purpose dam project, the flow of the Giri river will increase about 110 per cent which will be meet the drinking water needs of Delhi and the other Yamuna-basin states during the lean period, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said during the signing of the agreement.

The ministry would push the project for Cabinet approval within a fortnight after which the process of issuing tenders would be put in motion. The proposed Rs 4596 crore dam, to be constructed in Sirmaur district of HP, on a 1508- hectare area on the Giri river in the upper Yamuna basin will augment water availability for the states concerned.

The Centre will bear 90 per cent of cost of irrigation/drinking water component and the balance amount will be borne by the states as per the MOU inked in 1994.

Water will be stored in the dam from which 23cumec will be distributed among the states as per their share.