KARGIL, APRIL 06, 2021: The 4th LAHDC’s 20th General Council Meeting is scheduled to hold tomorrow on Wednesday. In this regard, Councillor from opposition Congress party, Nasir Hussain Munshi spoke to the Voice of Ladakh correspondent to discuss the issues to be raised by his party in the upcoming meeting.

On the very onset of the interview, at 4 PM on Tuesday, he said that the opposition Councillors has not received any draft of the annual plan yet. He hoped that it will be delivered soon. Accordingly we will prepare the strategy, said Munshi.

In addition there are some genuine issues of the district that we will raise and will bring a resolution on them, Nasir Munshi added, who is also the President of the District Congress Committee.

“The first issue is that of recruitment, as all the recruitments in the Ladakh UT are halted and the youth are betrayed here and there due to unemployment. JKSSB, JK Bank recruitment and other such vacancies are pending. When our youth take the issue with LG and other apex authorities they are told that the domicile law is not framed yet. Till then recruitment can be made on the basis of our existing Permanent Residence Certificate.”

“Second, in 2018 the LAHDC act was amended according to which the remaining funds could be used in next fiscal year and it doesn’t used to lapse. It was used to re-validate and used in next year. However since we have become UT this has not done as per the act. I couldn’t understand why this is done as the option is already exist in the amended act. The (LAHDC) Act is also included in the J&K reorganization act, but despite the paragraph is not followed in action. Even the Home Minister had said from the floor of the Parliament that LAHDC is in par with Sixth Schedule. But now we see that our funds are lapsed.

“Considering the topography and climatic condition it was made non-lapsing, but now the administration has rolled back the given funds. Even the contractors who have worked are not paid.

“Another burning issue is the opening of Zojila Pass which the administration had promised to open on 27th, but it has remained closed till date despite of having heavy machineries and manpower. The holy month of Ramadan is near and there is shortage of basic products in the market. What the UT administration is doing? Are they in deep slumber?, asked Nasir Munshi

“On the other side the toughest road via Manali has been opened but Zojila has not opened yet. I question, why the LG, Advisor and the Divisional Commissioner are not personally visiting and taking the issue seriously. A huge chunk of our population is stranded in Jammu and other cities.

“At the time of establishing the UT administration, eight directorates were divided to be stationed four each in Leh and Kargil. However, now most of them are stationed permanently in Leh and comes in Kargil only on visits. For small works people of Kargil have to visit Leh which is a major inconvenience. We will raise this issue also in the meeting. Why the directors are not in office.

“We will also demand to our Chief Executive Councillor and Deputy Commissioner to keep a special fund to coup up with the potential drought and famine that could plausibly cause this year due to less snowfall.

“Ladakh has a good potential of conventional energy especially solar energy. Bhutan is a model in this direction. Our region is also connected to the Northern Grid. The LAHDC has also signed an agreement for power purchase. Thus we will urge to develop many mini hydle projects to explore it to its fullest. The revenue generated will directly come to the LAHDC which is a good source of revenue for the region.

“Buildings in Ladakh need to be insulated to make good and efficient use of energy and fuel. We will convince the council to work on non conventional and solar energy.

“Another issue is the compensation to house, land, and trees; costs of which were revised many years back. Till then it has not been revised. The market rate of these immovable properties has gone up but in comparison the government rate is very low. This also needs to be revised so that the people get appropriate revenue to their properties.

On asking why the Congress party not raised these issues in past, Nasir Munshi said that due to pandemic these issues remained on the back stage. Still we raised several issues with concerned departments, Executive Councillors and the CEC also. Congress is never been silent but always raising the issues on time.