“Sector 13 Chandigarh”, this phrase would fill you with an estranged viewpoint about Chandigarh. When we refer to Chandigarh, it means well planned, prosperous and the greenest city of India. But did you know Sector 13 never existed in Chandigarh? Yes, you heard it right! Its a fact about Chandigarh that Sector 13 never existed in Chandigarh. Chandigarh’s Sectors grid covers all the sectors but you would not spot any board for direction to sector 13. You can notice PGIMER is in Sector 12 and Punjab University is in Sector 14 but Sector 13 is missing. Here is the reason.

About Sector 13 Chandigarh – Why it does not exists

As we all know that Chandigarh was well designed and well planned by the great Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier. About 50 years ago, when he was designing the layout of Chandigarh he never included Sector 13. Le Corbusier took this decision because number 13 is considered unlucky in the European regions. So, it was because of the superstitions which led to the omission of Sector 13 from Chandigarh city.

The number 13 is associated with bad luck in some countries including France. It is believed that Number 13 is not auspicious in tarot and numerology. That is why in lots of places you will find that the number 12 is followed by 12A or 14 instead of 13. So, while dividing Chandigarh into 60 sectors, the French Architect refrained from including it into the architecture of Chandigarh.

Others feel it is generally more difficult to market a floor or unit with this number. Developers also claim that in most of the cases, buyers don’t prefer buying flats with number 13 and hence avoiding the number makes more business sense. According to numerologists, the number 13 is also not used by airlines all over the world and flights do not have a seat number 13. In-fact the Bombay Stock Exchange does not have a floor number 13. Hence, there are so many areas where number 13 is considered an unlucky value.

It is also known that French people considered Number 13 as bad luck and architect Le Corbusier was from France. So while he was designing the map of Chandigarh he never included Sector 13. Maybe he thought that if he includes Sector 13 then people may not purchase houses and shops in this sector which can cause financial loss according to the French culture.

Summary of Reasons why Sector 13 Chandigarh never exists:

• French people considered Number 13 as bad luck
• Architect Le Corbusier was from France where the people strictly considered number 13 as an inauspicious number.
• Adding Sector 13 Chandigarh to be the cause of loss of financial market.

However, while preparing the architecture of New Chandigarh, the authorities didn’t include Sector 13 in the map. From sector 1 to 21, the sector 13 was skipped from the plan as the map of New Chandigarh is inspired by Chandigarh itself. Similar to Chandigarh, Sector 17 is kept as a place for shopping in New Chandigarh. To ensure the effective planning of residential areas, the grid system of Chandigarh is copied in the New Chandigarh. But PUDA (Punjab Urban Development Agency) pointed out that number 13 is lucky for Punjab as it many festivals namely, Lohri and Baisakhi fall on this date. Later on, PUDA decided to introduce the sector 13 in the map of New Chandigarh.

Another Fact About Number 13 in Chandigarh

If you have noticed then you will see that every sector and their opposite sectors add up to 13 or its multiples. For example, if you consider Sector 5 and its opposite sector 8 then the sum of the Sectors is 13. Also, if you take into account Sector 4 and opposite Sector 9, then again the sum of the sectors is 13. Another example is the summing of Sector 9 and the opposite Sector 17 results in number 26 which is itself a multiple of 13.

So it also indicates that there was no proper intention of architect Le Corbusier for not including Sector 13 Chandigarh in the map of the City Beautiful If it were the case he wouldn’t have created such a pattern of the sectors.