CHANDIGARH : Central Government has appointed a new commission to be headed by Justice ES, Venkatramiah that will determine and specify the other Hindi speaking areas of Punjab which will go to Haryana in lieu of Chandigarh, There solution tabled in the Lok Sabha on April 2nd, 1986, by the Home Minister also makes it clear that the new commission will follow the three principles of contiguity, linguistic affinity and village as a unit, This ‘was the stipulation contained in the Punjab Accord which was followed by the Mathew Commission, The notification also says that the new commission will take into account the report of the Mathew ‘Commission. The implication of the terms of reference of the Venkatramiah Commission shows that Abohar and Fazilka areas will not be considered by it. The Mathew Commission had) identified fifty-four villages and two towns of ‘Aboharand Fazilka areas as Hindi speaking but these could not be awarded to Haryana as the principle of contiguity was broken by the village Kandu Khera which turned out to be Punjabi speaking, in the limited census ordered by the Mathew Commission. The Venkatramiah Commission constituted in view of the recommend actions and observations of the ‘Mathew Commission has been asked to submit its report by May 31, 1986, Based on this recommendation the transfer of Chandigarh and the Hindi speaking areas of Punjab from the Districts like Patiala, Sangrurand Bhatinda will take place not later than three weeks after the report. The Commission will be at liberty to devise its own procedure for its work and will ordinarily hold its meetings in private. The Akali Dal leadership has welcomed the appointment of the second commission as representing a positive response of the Centre to the party’s demand, Mr. Balwant Singh, a senior Minister in Barnala’s Ministry, has said that the redeeming feature of the Centre’s announcement of the terms of reference of new commission is that Abobar and Fazilka have been finally decided to be a part of Punjab, He also said that the Hindi speaking villages in Patiala District contiguous to Haryana have already been offered to Haryana by the Punjab Government. While there is hardly any Hindi speaking Villages in Bhatinda Distr. but there are some sixteen villages in Sangrur Distr. which are Hindi speaking. According to inquiries made here, the Venkatramiah Commission will begin its work early next week, as soon as the chairman who is the sitting judge of the Supreme Court, is relieved by the Chief Justice to take over his new assignment. The Commission is expected to sit in Delhi for a ‘while before beginning to hear the respective claims of Punjab and Haryana, ‘The announcement of the second ‘commission by the Home Minister was the highlight of the six hour Jong debate on Punjab in parliament. The debate, virtually centered on the recent development in Punjab in killing of the innocent people by the gunmen. Although, the subject listed on the agenda had been the consideration of the problem of violence all over the country. The debate cut cross the party lines and one of its remarkable features was that members of the both sides expressed the hope that the Barnala Government with the backing of the Centre would prove more effective in meeting the challenge posed by the freedom fighters than before.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 11, 1986
