Home Secy on 2-day visit of Ladakh; chairs officers’ meeting, reviews development works

Mohan meets LAB, assures Core Group meet in Delhi soon
*Roadmap for formal creation of 5 new districts discussed

Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, June 30: Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan accompanied by Prashant Lokhande, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs and other senior officers of MHA today chaired a meeting of senior officers of the administration in Ladakh and reviewed ongoing developmental works, budgetary provisions, funding for Autonomous Hill Development Councils and creation of five new districts in the UT.

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Mohan reached Leh this morning on a two-day visit of Ladakh and was accorded guard of honour. Chief Secretary Pawan Kotwal and DGP SD Singh received him among other senior officers.
Significantly, Mohan also met the Leh Apex Body (LAB) this evening in which all senior leaders of the LAB including Thupstan Chhewang and Chering Dorjay Lakruk were present.
The meeting lasted about half an hour.
Lakruk, co-chairman LAB told the Excelsior on telephone after the meeting that they stressed the need for immediate holding of next meeting by the Ministry of Home Affairs with LAB and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) which was last held on May 27 and was due by the end of this month.
“We have been assured by the Home Secretary that next meeting of the MHA with LAB and KDA representatives will be convened soon,” Lakruk said, adding they have been told that it will be the Core Group meeting and not High Powered Committee (HPC). He said they are ready for the Core Group meeting followed by the HPC but it should be convened at the earliest.
The Core Group comprised senior officers of the MHA, three members each from LAB and KDA, Ladakh MP, Chairpersons-cum-CECs of Leh and Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Councils, Chief Secretary Ladakh among others while the HPC is headed by Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai and has wider participation.
Last meeting of the HPC chaired by Rai was held in New Delhi on May 27 in which the issues of reservation and domicile were resolved and it was decided that next meeting will be held within a month in which the twin bodies of Ladakh wanted to discuss the issues of Sixth Scheduled status and Statehood for Ladakh.
The LAB representatives said their major thrust in meeting with the Home Secretary was on convening next meeting soon to which he agreed and assured them that the Core Group meet will be called shortly.
Meanwhile, in his meeting with senior officers of the UT administration, Govind Mohan reviewed pace of ongoing development works in Ladakh and stressed for their timely completion by sticking to the timelines, the officials said.
He was also understood to have reviewed the roadmap for creation of five new districts in Ladakh which were approved by the Union Home Ministry on August 26, 2024.
Creation of five new districts in Ladakh assumed significance in the wake of upcoming elections to Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council which are due in September-October this year.
Five new districts announced for Ladakh include Sham, Nubra and Changthang in Leh; and Zanskar and Drass in Kargil. Presently, there are only two districts in Ladakh including Leh and Kargil.
Subsequently, the UT administration had set up high-level committee headed by Retired IAS officer Pramod Kumar Jain and comprising Kacho Asfandyar Khan and Tsering Angchok as Members and Deputy Commissioners of Leh and Kargil as ex-officio members for identification of areas, posts, headquarters and other requisites for new districts.
The Committee has already submitted its report.
However, the major task ahead of the MHA will be to take a decision on how to proceed with the structure of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs). Presently, the two districts of Leh and Kargil have the Hill Development Councils with 30 Councilors each-26 of whom were elected while four others are nominated by the UT administration. Each Council has a Chairman and four Executive Councilors.
As five newly created districts will be small administrative units in terms of population, the MHA will have to examine whether the concept of Hill Development Councils will be feasible for the new districts or not. Moreover, some areas of Leh and Kargil District Development Councils will also become part of five newly created districts effectively reducing population and voters in the existing Councils, the sources pointed out.
The BJP is in power for two consecutive terms in Leh Council while Kargil Council is being ruled by the National Conference.

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