History of Chandigarh
After the partition of British India into the two nations of India and Pakistan in 1947, the region of Punjab was also split between India and Pakistan. The Indian state of Punjab required a new capital city to replace Lahore, which became part of Pakistan during the partition. After several plans to make additions to existing cities were found to be infeasible for various reasons, the decision to construct a new and planned city was undertaken.CHANDIGARH was commissioned by Jawahar Lal Nehru the first Prime Minister of independent India to reflect the new nations modern progressive outlook. Earlier, CHANDIGARH was not an idustrial area, but now industries boost the economy of the city and help it grow. Today there are 580 factories in the city, including 15 large or medium scale units and 2100 small scale units. The major industries of CHANDIGARH are :
- Food products
- Metal products
- Machine tools
- Electrical goods
- Transport equipment
- Pharmaceuticals
- Leather goods
- Plastic goods
On 15 July 2007, CHANDIGARH became the first Indian city to go smoke-free. Smoking at public places has been strictly prohibited and considered as a punishable act by Chandigarh Administration. That was followed up by a complete ban on polythene bags with effect from 2 October 2008, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.