Is Ladakh destined to remain a region neglected and discriminated against by the ruling authority? Is it destined to be under threat of sporadic intrusions by the Chinese? Are the people in the region destined to be friendless with hardly any agency to speak for them in the corridors of power? Many questions have arisen ever since it was struck by unprecedented cloudburst three years ago in August 2010. The aftermath of that disaster has fully shown how callous, insensitive and prejudiced the ruling apparatus can be. There appears a nexus of sorts developed between Central and State authorities in relegating Ladakh’s strategic importance to the back-burner.
When the cloudburst struck three years ago, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flew into Ladakh and personally visited the ravaged areas, the destruction of human lives and the damages caused to agricultural assets and infrastructure. He announced relief package of 125 crore rupees to meet the expenditures on account of ex-gratia relief to the next of kin of people who lost their lives during the cloudburst and reconstruction of damaged and dysfunctional infrastructure. This was a brilliant demonstration of good will gesture. But no sooner was the plan initiated for execution than many questions were raised by the State Government. Taking advantage of its position as the disbursing authority of the largesse from PMO, the State Government challenged the interpretation of the package. It asserted that the announced package was not exclusively meant for the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure but was financial help offered by the Centre to the State authorities to execute various projects already either in hand or about to be initiated on the ground. This confusion, created deliberately by State Administration has resulted in delaying and deferring relief and reconstruction work as had been envisaged in the PM’s package. Bridges and culverts washed down by flash floods have not been either repaired or replaced. Agricultural land, no doubt very scares owing to topographical and climatic reasons has not been reclaimed and food scarcity has afflicted the families that depended on agrarian pursuits. Residential houses washed down by the gushing waters have not come up again and those partially damaged are fallen in a status quo situation. Villages and habitats swept by the mud and debris have not found retrieval. As damaged irrigation headwork remains dysfunctional, irrigation of agrarian land has adversely affected the cultivation of single crop.
Was it not the duty of the PMO to call for periodical reports on the progress of implementing the PM’s package? Why did it not respond to the plethora of complaints lodged by local leadership and social worker at various offices and levels lamenting the lackadaisical attitude of State Administration in coming to the relief and rescue of the affected people? The affected people of Ladakh cannot be faulted in believing that the PM’s package was deliberately put in controversial idiom allowing the State Government to impose its own interpretation.
Leh was promised 10 per cent annual increase in district plans. But this commitment has not been kept since 2010. The budget of 71 crore for the district plan in 2010 should have grown into Rs. 85 crore in 2013 but it is static at 73 crore. Cancellation of many air flights to Leh has substantially reduced the influx of tourists which has added to economic crunch to the region.
Recent incursion of the Chinese PLA into Daulat Baig Oldi sector has bereft the local herdsmen of many rich pastures on which they tended their flocks of sheep, goats and yaks. The people in the remote border areas have been repeatedly telling the authorities that Chinese were obstructing the movement of flocks over the pastures but nobody paid any heed to them. Last year two Chinese helicopters had intruded into the air space, landed on Indian Territory for some time and then left. Ladakh shepherds brought this to the notice of authorities but nothing happened. The State Government was quick to alert the Defence Ministry on the Chinese incursion of DBO on 15th April but it never told New Delhi what progress had been made in assuaging the wounds of Ladakhis by reconstructing damaged Ladakh.
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