DyCM leads cleanliness drive at Khardongla Pass

Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh flagging-off Cycling Expedition under SBM at Khardongla Pass on Monday.
Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh flagging-off Cycling Expedition under SBM at Khardongla Pass on Monday.

* Announces Rs 1 crore for development of Leh town

Excelsior Correspondent
LEH, Sept 19: Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh today led a  cleanliness drive  from Khardongla Pass, the highest motorable road in the world to Leh  under Swach Bharat Mission.
The campaign was flagged-off from Leh by 14th Dalai Lama from Jivetsal Choglamsar on August 24, 2016.
The concluding ceremony was attended by Minister for Ladakh Affairs & Cooperatives Tsering Dorjey, Chief Executive Councillor, LAHDC, Leh Dr. Sonam Dawa Lonpo, Executive Councilors, Councilors, Commissioner/ Secretary Housing and Urban Development Department, Director ULBK Tufail Matoo and all the HoDs of Leh district administration.
On the occasion, DyCM also flagged off a Cycling Expedition with an aim to infuse a sense of responsibility towards cleanliness among people. Officials of Rural Development Department and district administration also participated in the expedition from Khardongla towards Leh.
Speaking on the occasion, DyCM said the nationwide cleanliness drive and awareness initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached to the roof of the world as the drive has been started in Leh.
He said to achieve the dream of Nirmal Bharat by 2019, the Swach Bharat Mission should not be restricted to campaign but should become day to day activity of people to keep their surrounding safe.
Earlier, Minister for Ladakh Affairs & Cooperatives Tsering Dorjey Lakrook said that only cleanliness drive is not the solution to maintain the hygiene of an area saying that it is important to infuse good habits among people so that they don’t need cleanliness drive repeatedly.
CEC Dr. Sonam Dawa Lonpo said that in last 15 days all the 93 Panchayat Halqas of Leh district were cleaned under Swachh Bharat Mission and the idea of concluding this drive at Khardongla top was to spread the message of cleanliness from top of the world.
Later, Dr. Nirmal Singh announced an amount of Rs. 1 crore from state sector out of Urban Development Department for the development of Leh town.
He said that their aim is to work for the development of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh without any discrimination and stressed on all the elected representatives, district officers and other stakeholders to focus on coordination among each other to take maximum benefit of the flagship programmes.
MLA Leh Nawang Rigzin Jora, Commissioner Secretary Housing and Urban Development Department Hirdesh Kumar and Director ULBK Tufail Mattoo  were also present on the occasion.