BJP MP says Ladakh benefits from guv rule, work gets done

Imposition of governor’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir has given people in the Ladakh region hope that development projects that had either been stalled or were moving at a glacial pace will now gather steam, said Thupstan Chhewang, BJP MP from Ladakh, on Wednesday.

In a phone interview from Leh, Chhewang said people of Ladakh had “put their faith in the BJP” to end the neglect of the region, but the party’s alliance with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ended up worsening their situation. On Tuesday, the BJP ended the almost 40-month-long alliance with PDP, paving the way for governor’s rule in the state.

“We gave the BJP a chance so that Ladakh could also benefit from the development agenda that the party spoke of, but it partnered with the PDP, a party that speaks the language of the secessionists,” he said.

Welcoming governor’s rule in the state, Chhewang said Ladakh’s experience has been that it had always benefited when the administration is controlled by Raj Bhavan. “For the past three and a half years, we have been compelled to carry on with the coalition government but even our simple demands have not been met,” he said.

Barring a part of funds that were released as a part of the Prime Minister’s special package for the state, the region is yet to receive resources to finance development works that have been proposed for it, Chhewang said . In 2015, the Union government had sanctioned ₹80,068 crore for 63 projects in the state, including assistance for rehabilitation of flood-affected people.

People in the hilly region that shares its borders with China have been demanding the setting up of a central university, medical college, and construction of an all-weather road from Parangla in Himachal Pradesh. They also want Hill Councils to be strengthened by giving them more financial autonomy to fund development projects. They have also demanded the opening of the Kailash Mansrovar route from Ladakh that will help give trade a fillip and a reduction in airfares on the Leh sector.

A long-pending demand for grant of Union Territory status to Ladkah is another issue coalition government had put on the back burner, Chhewang said. “The BJP in its manifesto had assured UT status to Ladakh, but the coalition compulsions made them drop the issue,” he said.

Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, councillor from Martselang in Ladakh, said the PDP-BJP coalition government, “like the previous administrations,” had been “Kashmir-centric” and continued to “neglect Ladakh”.

“We are being punished for being part of the state; our voice is not heard, our demands are not met; the focus is always on the Valley. UT status for Ladakh will not only solve administrative problems, but is important to from the security point of view as well, given Ladakh’s strategic location,” he said.