Just Chandigarh's Best!! [Archive]

bhandari13

2nd August 2006, 17:31

Chandigarh also called The City Beautiful, is a city in India that serves as the capital of two states: Punjab and Haryana. However, administratively, the city is not under the jurisdiction of either state, it is administered by the federal government and hence classified as a union territory. The Governor of the Punjab is the Administrator of Chandigarh.

The city derives its name from a temple of goddess "Chandi" (the Chandi Mandir) located in nearby Panchkula district of Haryana. The word Chandigarh literally means "the fort of goddess Chandi".

Chandigarh is known for its high standard of living and tops the list of Indian States (Provinces) and Union Territories with a Human Development Index of 0.674.

Chandigarh has two satellite cities (both of which share a border with it): Panchkula and Mohali. Sometimes, the triangle of these three cities is collectively called as the Chandigarh Tricity.

handigarh is known for its high literacy rate (97%).

The popular schools in and near Chandigarh include The British School (at Panchkula), Strawberry Fields World School, St. John's High School, Carmel Convent School, Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Vivek High School, St. Stephen's School, St. Xavier's School, Yadavindra Public School (at Mohali), St. Kabir Public School, Gurukul (at Panchkula) and Bhawan Vidyalaya.

The colleges in Chandigarh include Government College for Girls, DAV College, Government College for Men, MCM College, Home Science College for Girls, Guru Gobind Singh College, SD College, Government Teacher Training College (Chandigarh, India) and Government Teacher Training College. There are model schools set up by the government in various sectors, originally aimed to cater the needs of each sector. It is a major study hub for students all over Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K and Uttaranchal, and also for the students from South-East Asia.

Chandigarh also houses many institutes of higher learning, such as: University Business School (UBS), Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Punjab Engineering College (PEC) (Deemed University), the Panjab University in sector 14, the University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Panjab University, Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology (CCET), Chandigarh College of Architecture, Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTech), National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR), Government Medical College & Hospital and the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research. Also located in neighboring Mohali, Chandigarh Engineering College (CEC), Chandigarh College of Education for Women (CCEW), Chandigarh College of Pharmacy (CCP) and Chandigarh College of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (CCHM). The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) located in nearby Mohali is the first national level institute in pharmaceutical sciences with a proclaimed objective of becoming a centre of excellence for advanced studies and research in pharmaceutical sciences.

ector 17 is the city's heart and retail centre. It is a favourite haunt for the city inhabitants for an evening out and has many restaurants and hotels like the newly commissioned Taj Chandigarh. Sector 17, unlike other sectors in Chandigarh, has no residential areas and is designed exclusively as a shopping and office area. It is also renowned for its many shops which carry a huge diversity of goods including most Indian and foreign brands. Most of the shops in the main plaza cater to the upper segments, while the smaller shops and the Bridge Market have a more middle class clientele. To deal with the increasing pressure on sector 17, another commercial hub was developed in Sector 34.

Chandigarh also has outlets of worldwide chain restaurants like KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza, Ruby Tuesday and Subway. Chandigarh has one multiplex, Fun Republic, located in Mani Majra NAC area, 10 Km from sector 17. Many more multiplexes are coming up. Chandigarh has a number of movie theatres, viz. Batra (Sector 37), Kiran (Sector 22), Piccadilly (Sector 34), Nirman (Sector 32), Neelam (Sector 17), Jagat (Sector 17) and KC (Sector 17).

Chandigarh started out with 3 major hospitals - the PGI in Sector 12, the General Hospital in Sector 16, and Government Medical College & Hospital at Sector 32. PGI is most often regarded as the nation's best post-graduate medical institution. Recently, major health groups have built specialty and super-specialty private hospitals in the tricity, such as Fortis at Mohali and Max Healthcare at Panchkula.

One of the unusual and popular features of Chandigarh is the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, built over 30 years by Nek Chand, a former road supervisor, from items discarded during the construction of Chandigarh. Other popular tourist places are the Rose Garden in Sector 16, and Sukhna Lake in Sector 6. Sukhna Lake is an artificially created lake, extremely popular among the locals and tourists. The Government Museum and Art Gallery in Sector 10 houses art, sculpture and textiles from India's past as well as contemporary items. It also has a natural history museum inside the complex. There is the National Gallery of Portraits in Sector 17.

The two satellite cities of Chandigarh, Panchkula (in Haryana) and Mohali (in Punjab) house a major population operating in Chandigarh. Both these cities are virtually the parts of Chandigarh.