Leh, January 13: Secretary, Tourism & Culture, Kacho Mehboob Ali Khan chaired a meeting regarding listing of historical/heritage sites and preparation & documentation of history of villages of the UT of Ladakh.

The Secretary emphasising on the importance of listing of heritage sites and preparation of village history opined that the joint efforts of the departments of Tourism, Culture, Rural Development (RD), Panchayats with technical assistance of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), (Leh/Kargil) and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Leh, if undertaken with utmost professionalism will be a historical initiative for preservation, restoration and promotion of heritage sites and in preparing a historical footprint of the villages of Ladakh. This exercise will be unique and one of its kind in the country to list and document a UT’s heritage sites and the history of its villages. This will become a repository of Ladakh’s past and the current & future generations will benefit, which will encourage every history lover to further explore and do research on Ladakh’s heritage and its history.

After due deliberations, the Secretary opined that the Director, RDD will form Sub-Committees for each village involving locals who have better knowledge of history of their respective villages so that, as far as possible, authentic history of the villages can be prepared and documented. He also stated that after due consultation with domain expertsmappropriate committee at Block-level will be formed to verify and refine the list of heritage sites/village history prepared by the Committees/Sub-Committees. He emphasised that the Panchayats need to play a very active role at both levels. The Secretary requested the BDCs to ensure active participation of the Panchayats & villagers in this important exercise.

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In the meeting, it was informed that for listing of historical/heritage sites a mobile “App” has been prepared by the NIC (Leh/Kargil) in collaboration with Archives (Antiquities) Department, Ladakh and ASI, Leh. A live demonstration of the “App” was also made by DIO, NIC (Leh/Kargil). In the meeting, it has been decided that a workshop will be conducted to give hands-on training on listing of heritage sites on the “App” to the Panchayat Secretaries (one Member of each Committee) on 15^th January at Leh & Kargil. The Secretary directed the concerned Officers to ensure observance of all COVID SOPs in place at both the places. The training will be followed by a week’s time for trial uploading of listing of heritage site information on the “App” and thereafter, the Committees/Sub-Committees will start the exercise of listing of heritage sites and preparation of village history. The Secretary urged the Committees/Sub-Committees, BDCs etc. to make this exercise/project a successful cooperative effort.

The meeting was attended by the Director, RDD & PR, Sh. Tahir Hussain Zubdavi; Director, Tourism, Smt. Kunzes Angmo; Technical Director/Scientist-E, NIC, Sh. Punchok Paldan; Assistant Commissioner Development, Leh, Sh. Sonam Norboo; Registering Officer, Antiquities, Leh, Sh. Khadim Hussian; OSD to Secretary, Tourism & Culture, Sh. Muhammad Ali Tak; all Block Development Officers and Chairpersons of BDCs, Leh/Kargil Districts.