Chandigarh :
Several ministers and bureaucrats are set to lose their antechambers and balconies in Civil Secretariat.

The government has asked them to vacate the balconies by July 8 so that the Chandigarh Engineering Department can start preservation and restoration work of this UNESCO world heritage architectural site from July 10.

Along with buildings of Punjab and Haryana High Court and Vidhan Sabha.
The Civil Secretariat, which houses the offices of Chief Ministers, ministers and bureaucrats of Punjab and Haryana, is part of the Capitol Complex that was declared a UNESCO world heritage site on July 17, 2016.

Chief Secretary Depinder Singh Dhesi confirmed that the state government had ordered removal of encroachments from the balconies by July 8. “The order should be seen in the light of the ones issued in the context of the Punjab Civil Secretariat, the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Vidhan Sabha,” he added.
The Capitol Complex is considered one of the finest architectural works in Chandigarh designed by Le Corbusier.

Spread over 100 acres, Capitol Complex also has the Open Hand Monument and a memorial for freedom fighters of the country besides having the buildings of the Civil Secretariat, the High Court and the Vidhan Sabha in it.

Sources say the Punjab Government has already ordered removal of illegal structures from its side of the Civil Secretariat, a similar permission from Haryana was awaited.
Several minister and bureaucrats have encroached upon balconies to build additional chambers for them spoiling the original look of the building.

Cabins have been made in the balconies by covering them with aluminium or plywood boards up to parapets to serve as antechambers, pantries or retiring rooms.
The state government has asked all its departments to cooperate with the Engineering Department in removing encroachments.