Nehru, Corbu worked in sync for project

When Punjab lost its historic capital Lahore after the Partition, it was Jawaharlal Nehru who took personal interest in getting it a new capital. Instead of choosing an existing city, Nehru advocated the making of a new capital that would express the ideals of the new nation-state.
"The 57th anniversary of the creation of Chandigarh cannot but revive nostalgic memories of two great visionaries - Nehru and the architectural and town planning genius Le Corbusier, for whom Chandigarh was a dream come true," said NS Sreeraman, who was personal assistant to Nehru and subsequently retired as director from PMO in 1985.
"The tragic events that followed Partition, which uprooted the most enterprising and hard working people of the then Punjab region, saddened Nehru. Yet, he never lost faith in the indomitable will and determination of those people to regain their lost glory in all respects," added Sreeraman.
"It was his passion to create the most modern city in the region, one that would have all modern amenities. It was to be a place richly endowed with nature, where the purity of environment was not compromised on. And, there was to be adequate scope for future growth. Transport infrastructure, with the possibility of a mass transport system like Metro, assumes importance," he said.
"During planning and building Chandigarh, Le Corbusier was in frequent touch with Nehru. Their ideas blended harmoniously. At that time, there was a go-getter chief minister, Pratap Singh Kairon, who greatly helped in the expeditious execution of the project," he added.