Balti students demand carving out an Assembly seat for Turtuk

Excelsior Correspondent
LEH, Feb 10:  All Balti Student Association, Nubra Ladakh, has demanded carving out  at least one Legislative Assembly seat, out of those 24 seats reserved  for PoK and Gilgit Baltistan, for the Turtuk area in Nubra tehsil of district Leh, which was liberated from Pakistan occupation territory of Gilgit-Baltistan and reincarnated to India during 1971 Indo-Pak war.
“We have every legitimate right over at least one of those 24 reserved seats as we have recently incarnated in our own country and State as well. The Government should come forward with some bold and concrete steps by announcing at least a seat of legislator for the development of the area, which certainly flashes a message of concern to the other side of LoC,” the Association said in a statement, issued here today.
The Association claimed that due to lack of representation in the Houses of J&K, the area was lying aside in terms of development.  “Besides, the worst part of our saddest tale is that not a single legislator from Leh has ever raised our issues in the State Assembly. Dozens of representations have been made to New Delhi and the J&K Govt at prolonged intervals in the past regarding these issues, but all these went in vain, the Association added.
The Association also demanded allocation of funds to Turtuk area out of PM’s special  development package to the displaced people of Indo Pak war of 1965 and 1971, inclusion of these villages of tehsil Nubra under the areas adjoining  the Line of Control under Jammu& Kashmir Reservation Rules 2005,  construction of Turtuk-Hanu Road, which has the potential to shorten the distance between Srinagar and Nobra by almost 150 Km, and to make the travel and transportation highly economical to the whole Nubra valley and to our defence forces as well,  opening of a Degree College in  Turtuk belt and to make some institutional arrangements for encouraging young people to  pursue post graduation in various streams of relevance in the rest of India.

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