TSEWANG RIGZIN
LEH: The two-day review session of the General Council of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Leh that began on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution recommending conferment of Bharat Ratna to His Holiness the Dalai Lama for his lifelong effort to bring peace in the world.
The General Council meeting was held under the chairmanship of Chairman/Chief Executive Councillor LAHDC Dr Sonam Dawa in presence of J and K Minister Ladakh Affairs and Cooperatives Chering Dorjay, Executive Councillors, Councillors and Heads of Departments of the District.
Moving a resolution in the House Councillor Matselang Jamyang Tsering Namgyal said that General Council should endorse demand of Member Parliament from Kangra Shanta Kumar for recommending Bharat Ratna to the Nobel Peace Laureate in his recognition being a great apostle of peace in the world today. The House unanimously passed the resolution urging the Government of India, particularly the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to confer the Tibetan spiritual leader with Bharat Ratna.
Open Stadium and Youth Hostel under construction near Spituk will be named after former Minister late Sonam Wangyal and his name will be recommended to the State Government for conferment of Kabir Pruskar for Wangyal’s contribution to Ladakh and for upholding secular ethos of Ladakh. Councillor Tingmosgang Tsering Morup moved a resolution highlighting Wangyal’s contribution to Ladakh and the same was passed by the House unanimously.
As Ladakhi Losar and New Year celebrations are approaching soon, LAHDC banned the use of firecrackers in Leh with immediate effect. A resolution in this regard brought by J.T. Namgyal to ban firecrackers on all celebrations in Leh District was also passed unanimously as an endeavour to protect fragile ecosystem of Ladakh from being disturbed.
General Council also condemned the recent poaching of the blue sheep and raised questions over the lack of coordination between the police and the wildlife departments in handling the case. The House demanded thorough investigation to bring culprits to book without delay.
While responding to questions raised by Councillors, Chief Conservator of Forest and Wildlife Jigmet Takpa said that the department has about 20 wildlife guards to look after 45,000 square kilometre of area. One guard has to look after 2,500 square kilometre of the area, he added.
Chairman informed the House the out of Rs 45 crore of the plan budget, government has already released Rs 33 crores. Taking review of different departments Dr. Dawa questioned the low expenditure of planned budget in spite of having 75 per cent of the fund released and asked district officers not to give excuse of non availability of funds and warned for serious consequences in future as it reflects badly on the efficiency of the officers. Minister for Ladakh Affairs gave his inputs and also assured to expedite things at the government level.
A scene of uproar was also witnessed with ruling and opposition councillors blaming each other alleging failure of their priorities. Opposition leader and Councillor Korzok Gyurmet Dorjay suggested that since incumbent LAHDC’s priority is agriculture, livestock development should also be a priority since it is correlated to the development of agriculture. Some of the BJP councillors blamed that although education was called the top priority sector with the previous Congress led LAHDC, schools at grassroots were suffering and many teachers had been attached at Leh.
