Excelsior Correspondent
LEH, June 25: Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal Singh chaired a review meeting with the Executive Councillors and Councilors of LAHDC, Leh headed by Chief Executive Councilor, LAHDC, Leh Dr. Sonam Dawa Lonpo and Deputy Commissioner Leh Prasanna Ramaswamy at Council Secretariat.
Minister for Cooperatives & Ladakh Affairs, Chhering Dorjey was also present in the meeting.
DC, Leh gave a brief power point presentation highlighting some major ongoing projects and schemes in different sectors including agriculture, horticulture, sheep husbandry, PDD, PDC, I&FC, Leh Beautification Project and tourism.
The meeting had an extensive discussion about the scope and issues of Agriculture, Horticulture and Sheep husbandry which have immense potential to boost the economy of Ladakh if cold storage, processing, marketing, farm mechanization, commercial greenhouses and packaging facilities are provided to the farmers and entrepreneurs through different schemes / subsidies.
The meeting had a constructive discussion regarding cultivation and value addition of seabuckthorn and apricot at larger scale regarding which Co- operative Minister informed that Leh and Kargil districts are brought under ICDP project in which both districts can avail National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) loans, adding that a DPR is already in process under this scheme for Seabuckthorn project at large level in Leh district.
Responding to the issues and demands raised by CEC Dr. Dawa and EC Dorjey Mutup including approval of several major projects already submitted to State Govt. and filling up of different posts specially doctors and JEs, the Deputy Chief Minister instructed the Council to develop a constant follow-up system to through projects assuring his intervention at different levels whenever required. He also directed DC to submit a comprehensive report of different key sectors department wise highlighting their prospects and issues to his office assuring to take up these issues with concerned ministries.
While reviewing the PDD and PDC functioning, the Deputy Chief Minister was told that out of total 113 villages of Leh, 11 villages are un-electrified and at present 45 villages are being supplied electricity through D.G Sets. After thematic discussion about the overall power scenario of the district, the meeting came to know that Leh district has surplus power in summer months but due to lack of transmission lines huge quantity of surplus electricity remains utilized.
Talking about Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) which is designed for rural areas and Integrated Power Development Scheme ( IPDS) for town area, Dy CM said that to address minor problems in power sector, State Govt. has sanctioned Rs one crore each for every Assembly constituency as per which Leh district has Rs. 2 crore to expend. On the request of councilors, Dr. Nirmal also assured to increase the stock of transformers for Leh district. To resolve the issues of PDD and PDC, minister directed DC, Leh to convene a meeting of both the agencies separately and report him accordingly.
Meanwhile, CEC Dr. Dawa also directed Councilors to submit the list of un-electrified villages with total number of households in their respective constituency within a week to his office.
Taking serious note of the slow progress in Leh Beautification works, Dy. CM and Cooperative Minister directed SE PWD to speed up the works by engaging extra men and machine and also instructed him to take strict action against contractors who fail to obey contact rules.
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