MHA holds a high level meeting of High Powered Committee for Ladakh

New Delhi, December 5

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) held a high level meeting of High Powered Committee (HPC) for Ladakh. 

Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai chaired the meeting. Apex Body Leh (ABL) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) also participated in the meeting, officials said. 

MoS Nityanand Rai emphasized that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and guidance of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the MHA is committed to fast-track the development of Ladakh and to meet the aspirations of the people of Ladakh. 

He added that significant progress has been achieved after the formation of the Union territory in 2019. Due to this historic step of the formation of the Union territory, governance and thereby developments have been brought closer to the people of Ladakh. 

He said that a number of initiatives like increasing the budgetary allocation for the UT, increasing funds provided to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils, ensuring all-round connectivity, developing infrastructures like mobile networks, roads, construction of new helipads, etc. have been undertaken at a much faster pace. Rai said that the Government would continue to engage with the ABL and KDA and people of Ladakh for holistic and sustainable development of the UT of Ladakh on regular basis.

ABL and KDA welcomed the decision of MHA for modifying the Terms of References and also inclusion of new members. The ABL and KDA members submitted various issues pertaining to protection of rights of Ladakh Residents, Fast Track Recruitment processes, strengthening of LAHDCs, Greater participation in the decision making etc. 

The MHA has constituted High Powered Committee (HPC) for Ladakh under the chairmanship of Nityanand Rai, with a mandate to discuss- measures to protect the Ladakh region’s unique culture and language taking into consideration its geographical location and its strategic importance, to ensure protection of land and employment, measures for inclusive development and employment generation in the region, measures related to empowerment of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) of Leh and Kargil and constitutional safeguards that could be provided to ensure the measures.