All formalities completed; Hqrs, boundaries finalized
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 8: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is expected to formally announce creation of five new districts in the Union Territory of Ladakh shortly as all formalities in this regard have been completed.
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The districts-three in Leh and two in Kargil-were announced on August 26, 2024 by the MHA. They include Sham, Nubra and Changthang in Leh and Zanskar and Drass in Kargil.
Sources told the Excelsior that most of the formalities have been completed and the proposal including boundaries of new districts, their headquarters and posting of staff etc are being discussed as per recommendations of the Committee set up for the purpose and a formal announcement could come at any time.
The Panel had finalized formalities required for creation of new districts like their boundaries and headquarters. The Panel was headed by Retired IAS officer Pramod Kumar Jain and comprised Kacho Asfandyar Khan and Tsering Angchok as Members and the Deputy Commissioners of Leh and Kargil as ex-officio members. Later, the UT administration of Ladakh had set up an Internal Committee for analyzing the report.
“The new districts could be formally announced anytime now,” the sources said, adding the announcement is expected to be made by the MHA.
While three new districts have been carved out of Leh, two have been made out of Kargil district. The UT of Ladakh was earlier based only on two districts and with creation of five more, the numbers will go up to seven. However, all seven administrative units are expected to be small in terms of population as well as votes though their boundaries may be reasonable enough.
“Headquarters of new districts have not been made public but will be announced when the administrative units are formally created,” the sources said, adding the people of Ladakh are now eagerly awaiting formal announcement of new districts as it was on August 26, 2024 that the districts were announced.
Further, as per the sources, Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council is completing its five-year term in September-October this year and new districts have to be announced before that since all three new districts are presently part of Leh district. And once elections are held to the Council, creation of three new districts will be a problem.
Kargil district too faced similar issues where elections to the Hill Council were held in October 2023. Two new districts have been carved out of Kargil and once they are formally created, fate of the Councilors elected from there will be known only after the MHA issues guidelines on the Councils.
Sources admitted that it may not be possible to grant seven Hill Councils to Ladakh taking into account the very less number of population and voters in each district. There were 1.84 lakh voters in Ladakh during 2024 Parliamentary polls.
Presently, the two districts of Leh and Kargil have the Hill Development Councils with 30 Councilors each-26 of whom were elected while four others are nominated by the UT administration. Each Council has a Chairman and four Executive Councilors.
Elections to Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council are due in October this year. The BJP is in power for two consecutive terms in Leh Council. In fact, the BJP also won Ladakh Lok Sabha seat in 2014 and 2019 but lost in 2024 Parliamentary polls.
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