Nautor land may be allowed for tourism purposes
*Both Councils to be strengthened under the Act
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 29: The UT of Ladakh administration is likely to allow use of Nautor land for tourism and other related purposes to some extent to promote tourist related activities and help people in uplifting their living standards while land under control of the Autonomous Hill Development Council is also expected to be used for similar purposes.
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These issues were taken up by the people before Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan during his two-day Ladakh visit few days back. The Union Home Secretary has now written to the UT Ladakh administration to constitute review committee on the issues pertaining to Nautor land and other land related issues as well as review the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Act, 1997.
LAHDC Leh Chairman-cum-CEC Tashi Gyalson told the Excelsior that there was a strong demand from the people to allow use of Nautor land, granted from the time of Maharajas to the people for agricultural purposes, for tourism promotion as the Union Territory of Ladakh has a lot of tourism potential.
“The people are not allowed to use Nautor land for any purposes other than agriculture. The demand was taken up with the Home Secretary and now the MHA has written to the administration for setting up a high-level committee to examine the issue,” Gyalson, a prominent BJP leader from Ladakh, said.
He said the people demand that Nautor land should at least be allowed for the purpose of tourism like construction of Home stay facilities etc. This will help the people in increasing their living standard as well as the tourists, he added.
Besides, the LAHDC Leh Chairman-cum-CEC said there was also land in possession of the LAHDC Leh and the Committee will recommend how better it can be used for the public welfare.
The Committee set up by the UT Ladakh administration will be headed by Sanjeev Khirwar, Principal Secretary Ladakh and comprised Michael M D’Souza, Administrative Secretary General Administration Department (GAD), Qureshi Tariq Mahmood, Special Secretary, Law and Justice Department and Rigzin Spalgon, Additional Secretary GAD.
The Committee shall also be assisted by the Deputy Commissioners/CEO, LAHDC Leh and Kargil and Assistant Commissioner Revenue, Leh and Kargil, in its functions. It will be served by the GAD.
Terms of reference of the Committee include to review issues pertaining to Nautor land and such other land related issues in the Union Territory of Ladakh, strictly keeping in mind the interest of the people of Ladakh, review the LAHDC Act, 1997 and submit a report to strengthen the Councils.
The Committee has been asked to submit a report in four weeks.
The constitution of Committee comes ahead of the completion of LAHDC Leh’s five-year term. Elections to the Leh Hill Council are due to be held in October this year. However, there have been reports that five new districts, announced by the MHA in August last year, will be formally created any time now.
The Home Ministry then will have to take a decision on how to proceed ahead with the elections as three new districts have been carved out of Leh district while two new districts have been created from Kargil district. Presently, there are only two districts in the UT of Ladakh-Leh and Kargil.
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