The Ladakh Autonomous Hill District Council (LAHDC) has demanded that schemes sanctioned by the Union Territory of Ladakh under the Special Development Package (SDP) must be vetted by the council first to ensure that the genuine demands of the people are fulfilled.
LAHDC Chairperson Tashi Gyalson demanded additional allocation of ₹300 crore under the SDP so that councillors were able to fulfil “public demands”.
In 2021, Ladakh had shut down after civil society groups and councillors demanded Statehood for the newly created Union Territory. The groups said they felt disempowered due to bureaucratic overreach after Ladakh became a Union Territory in August 2019. The special status of Jammu & Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution was read down by Parliament and the erstwhile State was split into two Union Territories — Ladakh and J&K.
The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led LAHDC held a two-day general council meeting in Leh that concluded on April 5.
“I request L-G (Lieutenant-Governor) Ladakh, R. K. Mathur and the Union Territory Administration to earmark ₹300 crore special funds, specifically the under the SDP, in addition to the total budget allocated for the council,” Mr. Gyalson said.
The total budget allocated for the council in the fiscal year 2022-23 is ₹233 crore.
A councillor said on condition of anonymity that the Union government had allotted ₹3,000 crore under the SDP for Ladakh but the plan formulation was carried out by bureaucrats who hardly consulted the councillors. “Many projects planned by the bureaucrats have not seen the light of the day and they do not reflect the genuine demands of the people. This is why we demand that the projects should be vetted by the council members first,” the councillor said.
The total budget for Ladakh in the fiscal year 2022-23 is ₹5,958 crore.
