KARGIL: Lieutenant Governor Brigadier (Dr) B D Mishra arrived in Kargil district on Saturday, and started he public outreach program during which he would interact with the people of Kargil to obtain a first-hand information about the issues faced by them.
On the first day of his tour, the Lieutenant Governor along with First Lady, Neelam Mishra visited Aryan Valley of Kargil, where Chairman and Chief Executive Councillor of LAHDC Kargil, Feroz Ahmed Khan and Deputy Commissioner, Kargil, Santosh Sukhdeve accompanied him.
Upon his arrival at Changrah in Garkone village, the people of Aryan Valley accorded a warm welcome to LG.
Expressing his gratitude for the warm welcome accorded to him, the LG informed about various delegations from Aryan Valley who had come to meet him at Raj Niwas in Leh.
He also informed about the ongoing compilation work of the memorandums submitted by them so that necessary steps could be taken to address their issues.
“The development of Aryan Valley will be his number one priority,” he assured.
Speaking on various issues raised by the people of Aryan Valley, LG assured of all possible assistance to promote the unique culture of the area among the tourists and informed about conducting an assessment on homestays to empower women and also to improve the livelihood opportunities of the people of Aryan Valley.
The LG assured to take the necessary steps to help the people from Aryan Valley, who fought valiantly for the safety and security of the country during the Kargil War, get their due recognition.
He also assured to take up the matter of recruiting locals as labourers for different project works with BRO. He further assured to take up the demand for the creation of a separate block for Aryan Valley with the Central Government.
The LG informed about the plan to send a team for the recruitment of agniveers under the Agnipath scheme so that youth from Ladakh can join the Indian Army. He also informed about the plan to develop sports infrastructure across Ladakh. He also informed about the task commissioned to a former judge of J&K High Court to submit a report on villages falling under ALC in Ladakh.
The LG informed about implementing the Back to Village programme to understand the requirements of the people living in remote villages of Ladakh. He informed about his plan to make Ladakh a ‘Corruption and Delay-Free’ UT and sought cooperation from the people of Ladakh to help achieve this goal.
Earlier, CEC Feroz Ahmed Khan, who is also the Councillor of Silmoo constituency, apprised LG of various developmental activities that took place in the Aryan Valley after the formation of Ladakh as a Union Territory. He highlighted the initiative taken by the people of Aryan Valley to keep their distinct unique cultural heritage and traditions alive.
Feroz raised several issues related to Garkone village, viz. the need to throw Gurgurdo village open to tourists to boost tourism activities in Aryan Valley; reservation for people from Aryan Valley to open homestays to improve their livelihood opportunities; the need to extend benefits to ex-servicemen from Batalik who valiantly fought for the country during the Kargil War; the need to give preference to locals for engagement as labourers in various infrastructure works carried out by Border Roads Organisation (BRO); the need to construct a tunnel at Hamboting La; reservation for youth from Aryan Valley in recruitment carried out by Army and Paramilitary Forces; the need to issue Actual Line of Control (ALC) certificate to youth to avail various benefits; the need to construct ice hockey rinks and indoor stadium to promote sports activities, etc.
Deputy Secretary, LAACL Kargil, Nazir Hussain, welcomed the guests while Sonam Tsering from Aryan Valley gave the vote of thanks. SSP Kargil, Anayat Ali Chaudhary; Sarpanch, Panch and other elected representatives along with a large number of villagers were present during the event.
This is Mishra’s second visit to Kargil after he assumed the charge of the top constitutional post of the union territory. He had earlier visited Kargil in the month of March.
