Ladakh Hill Councils Published Tuesday 23 July 2013 by Abdul Hamid Mir The charter of demands recently put forward by the Ladakh Hill Councils before the state government is leading them towards greater autonomy which might not be good for the political, strategic and administrative health of the state. The frontier districts of Leh and Kargil are governed by autonomous hill councils, constituted by the state government almost a decade ago. The Ladakh Autonomus Hill Development Council (LAHDC) in each district is represented by councillors, executive councillors and a chief executive councillor (CEC). In Ladakh council constituencies are much more popular than Assembly. While CEC enjoys the status of a cabinet minister, executive councillors are equivalent to the rank of Ministers of State (MoS). The demand, that is Cabinet Minister status to Executive Councillors, means CEC would be elevated to CM’s status, and imagine the confusion and problems it can create in the state. Though this demand was not accepted by the state government but it speaks of their intentions, which the state government should not take lightly. The autonomous hill council status was provided to these districts on account of being geographically isolated from the mainland for almost six months due to heavy snowfall at Zojila. This problem will be addressed too once the on-going mega project of Zojila tunnel on Srinagar –Leh highway is completed. Ladakh region has less than 5 percent population of the state, so there is no justification in granting divisional status to this cold desert. People of Ladakh are fully exempted from income tax and they also enjoy special privileges in education and employment. All native people in the twin districts have been granted Scheduled Tribe (ST) category status for generations. Their representation in state cabinet and bureaucracy is also reasonable. Peace and calmness prevails in this Himalayan region unlike the volatile atmosphere in the other two provinces of the state. There is no insurgency threat and as such no laws like AFSPA, DAA, etc. Crime rate is low, thus there is no need to grant a separate police range as SSP level can easily maintain law and order in the scarcely populated Leh and Kargil. LAHDC enjoys the administrative supremacy over all departments with simultaneous empowerment of the Deputy Commissioner. The state government must think before devolving more powers to the already empowered hill councils of Ladakh. Ladakh is an integral part of J&K State, the hill councils must remain within the purview of state government so that integrity of the state is not harmed in any way. Decision making power should be vested with the state government.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 07:35:28 +0000