Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Gyan Chand Gupta on Friday said that as many as 20 rooms in the Vidhan Sabha which were allocated to Haryana on October 17, 1966 during formation of the State have been possessed by Punjab government since then.

"Today Haryana needs such rooms as State is facing a crunch of space in Vidhan Sabha," he said.

Gupta said that around a year ago, Haryana government had written a letter to Punjab Vidhan Sabha chief engineer seeking possession of 20 such allocated rooms to Haryana but nothing has happened so far.

“To secure the possession of 20 rooms, I met Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana Kanwar Pal Singh and discussed this issue with him. It was a productive and positive meeting between us. We both have decided to have a secretary level meeting to resolve the issue. Such meeting will be called soon,” the Haryana Speaker said. 

Referring to available records, Gupta said that during formation of Haryana in 1966, the total area in the Vidhan Sabha was 64,430 square feet and out of which  24 630 square feet was allocated to Haryana while 30,890 square feet to Punjab and remaining 10,910 square feet to Pujab Vidhan Parishad which today does not exist. The division of areas in the Vidhan Sabha was in the ratio of 60:40.

He said Haryana was having 54 assembly seats in 1966,  81 in 1967 and 90 in 1977. The Haryana Speaker said the state has got only 27 per cent of total allocated areas in the Vidhan Sabha while remaining 13 per cent has been in the possession of Punjab since then. Room numbers which were allocated to Haryana in the Vidhan Sabha but has been in the possession of Punjab are 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 101, 102, 103, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110,, 111, 112 and 113, he said.

“We need all allocated space to accommodate ministers and officers in the Vidhan Sabha which will help us completing Vidhan Sabha related works smoothly and effectively," he added, hoping that the matter would be resolved soon.