Ladakh LG meets Home Minister Amit Shah

Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh R K Mathur met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday, second time in as many days, and discussed with him COVID-19 situation and overall developmental issues of the Union Territory.

During the two meetings, the LG shared the Ladakh experience of COVID-19 and the coordinated efforts put into containing the virus spread, an official statement said.

Mathur apprised the home minister about the measures being taken to ensure effective management and strict adherence of government protocol of social distancing and other precautionary guidelines of COVID-19 in the region.

He informed Shah that new COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Ladakh and this is mostly being detected among about 16,000 people who came back to the Union territory recently from different parts of India.

In the meeting, various developmental and administrative issues related to the Union Territory were taken up and discussed, the statement said.

The LG made requests for additional senior-level officers to augment the administrative strength in Ladakh and the officers who have opted for Ladakh may be permanently allocated to the Ladakh UT.

He requested for early implementation of recommendations put by the Advisory Committee and to fast track the domicile rules for Ladakh in order to enable recruitment.

The LG requested for deployment of CISF for Leh Airport and in the NHPC Power Projects at Nimo-Basgo and Chutuk.

He also made a request to maintain the reservation for students from Ladakh in professional colleges in Jammu and Kashmir, in view of the recent amendment in Jammu and Kashmir rules according to which the special reservation quotas for Leh and Kargil districts have been removed.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Advisor to the LG Umang Narula and Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry Gyanesh Kumar also attended the meeting.