‘Tangible growth in Ladakh since it became UT’

Lieutenant Governor RK Mathur has said there has been tangible growth in the region since the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh was carved out of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) three years back. In an interview with Ramesh Vinayak, Mathur spoke about the progress of his model of development, challenges and priorities. Edited excerpts:

What has changed since Ladakh became UT?

There has definitely been a tangible growth, better than what it was during the pre-UT days. Our priorities are clear. Each department has a vision statement and a road map. Take the example of the education sector.

All schools in Ladakh are now CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education)-affiliated. Earlier they were affiliated with the J&K Board. This has meant a significant improvement in infrastructure and quality of education. We now have 20 astronomy labs because that is an interesting area for Ladakh. Six Atal Tinkering Labs have been set up. Schools are spread out and it is difficult to have full staff and infrastructure for a small group of students. We embarked on a new approach to aggregate middle, high and senior secondary schools. All teachers have been trained twice over three years.

The overall pass percentage at the board level has improved by 7% from previous years. Ladakh University is up and running. Sindhu University, a central institution, has been sanctioned... The medical college, funded by the Centre, has enrolled its first batch. Indian Institute of Hotel Management is coming up. In two years, Kargil will have an engineering college and Leh a medical college.

What have been the key challenges?

The first is on the administrative side. You do not have a secretariat and a Lieutenant Governor’s office. There was nothing. Before August 2019, Ladakh had just two deputy commissioner offices (in Leh and Kargil). Converting this into a government is a big task that stands accomplished to a good extent. The second challenge was bigger. After all, the purpose of a UT is to meet local aspirations... For us, it boiled down to minting a Ladakhi model of development by figuring out local needs and aspirations and converting them into ground reality step by step.

Has UT’s umbilical cord with J&K been fully snapped?

Not substantially. Because break-up of the administration between the two UTs is a big job that includes the transfer of posts, manpower and vacancies. There have to be a lot of J&K staff at certain levels that has not been transferred as they are still needed. That would take a little longer. Administratively, bureaucracy still has a lot of overlap, but otherwise, we behave as an independent UT.

How has the financial allocation for Ladakh changed?

Until 2019, the main allocations were coming to two autonomous hill development councils in Leh and Kargil. Annually, these were in the range of ₹60 to ₹70 crore each. Last year, the councils got ₹232 crore each, and this year it will be ₹258 crore.

What is the status of the ₹50,000-crore special central package that was part of the reorganisation exercise?

It is coming in a staggered manner. In the UT’s first financial year, which began in October 2019, we got ₹3,000 crore as a special development fund. That amount has continued every year. The battle here is not for money; it is your ability to spend that. Ladakh was used to spending ₹150 crore a year. Now, scaling up the capacity to make ₹3,000 crore expenditure has been the real challenge. Last year, we achieved substantially higher spending out of the ₹3,500 crore allocation.

What is the progress on telecom connectivity?

All 193 panchayats have V-Sat connectivity. In telecom coverage through towers, things changed substantially. When Ladakh became a UT, it had 320 towers. Now it is over 500, covering 70% to 80% of villages. In two years, we will have 100% connectivity.

PM Narendra Modi has articulated his vision of making Ladakh the country’s first carbon-neutral region. How have things moved so far?

Carbon neutrality, for us, is like a mantra which reflects in every decision the government makes. We have decided not to buy new diesel-generation (DG) sets and are phasing out existing ones... We are replacing them with national grid connectivity or supplying power through the solar network. About 70% of our villages are grid-connected. A significant change will come through the 7,500-MW solar project in the works. By the middle of next year, we will have a 150-MW solar plant in operation, and two pilots of 1 MW each on hydrogen. There will be another plant to tap geothermal energy.

Has UT status opened doors for private investments?

Ladakh has a small population base of 300,000, which is roughly 55,000 families. About 15,000 are in government jobs, while many have their own businesses.

My assessment is 15,000 to 20,000 families need to be employed. Private investment will have to come primarily in the power sector. Solar and wind power are comparatively cheaper in Ladakh so long as we keep clear regime of rules and regulation. Another leg-up will come from home stays in large numbers.