Chandigarh will soon have “Sector 13”, a sector which never existed since its formation on November 1, 1966. For, the Chandigarh Administration has chalked out a proposal for renaming of eight areas, which are not covered under the sectoral grid here.
As per the proposal, Manimajra would be renamed as “Sector 13” in the city.
In the notification issued on Monday, the UT Administration has proposed renaming of Manimajra, Industrial Areas, Maloya among other places here.
It is said that when Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier was designing Chandigarh, he never included “Sector 13” in the layout of the city. While many believe that “Number 13” is considered unlucky in France and this superstition led to the omission of “Sector 13” from Chandigarh city, the official documents tell a different story.
The city development plan states, “The sectors of the city are numbered commencing from the northern most edge of the city with the highest numbers located at the southern edge. There is no Sector 13 in Chandigarh, but the addition or subtraction of the number of any two consecutive Sectors in Phase I sectors vertically amounts to 13 or its multiple (e.g. Sec. 2 + Sec. 11 = 13, Sec.11 + Sec. 15=26, etc.).”
“Though it is generally believed that number 13 was left out due to superstition but records indicate that Sector 12 and 13 were demarcated initially as a cultural zone in the lower halves of Sector 10 and 11 but later removed to avoid confusion. However, later number 12 was assigned to residential area at the edge of Sector 11 but number 13 was left out in absence of an appropriate area for its location,” the plan further says.
Notably, the Resident Welfare Associations in various areas have been demanding renaming of their respective areas and the association in Manimajra had demanded the place to be renamed as either Sector 13 or Sector 26 (East).
The UT Administration has now sought suggestions from the city denizens by December 16 before renaming eight areas.
As per the proposal, Industrial Area Phase I is proposed to be renamed as Business & Industrial Park I while the new name of Industrial Area Phase II and Industrial Area Phase III would be Business & Industrial Park II and Business & Industrial Park III respectively.
Among other areas, Sarangpur Institutional area will be renamed as Sector 12 (west), Dhanas including
Milk Colony, Rehabilitation colony etc as Sector 14 (west), Maloya and Dadu Majra as Sector 39 (west), Pocket number 8 below Vikas Marg as Sector 56 (west).
Under Chandigarh Master Plan 2031, the reference area for planning constitutes 144 sq km which includes the 60 sectors in the sectoral grid
as well as the periphery areas outside it.
Interestingly, the city’s creator French architect Le Corbusier’s original plan was divided into a gird of 30 sectors with Capitol Complex as well as Civic Centre as its focal points. And, phase II layout included Sector 31 to 47.
