75th Independence Day Celebrations: CEC Feroz Khan unfurls tricolor at Khree Sultan Cho Sports Stadium Biamathang

KARGIL, AUGUST 15, 2021: As the country celebrates Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav marking the 75th Independence Day, Independence Day was celebrated at Kargil today with immense patriotic fervor and gaiety. Chairman and Chief Executive Councillor, LAHDC, Kargil Feroz Ahmed Khan unfurled the national tricolor at Khree Sultan Chow Sports Stadium Biamathang and took salute at the march past.
2 contingents of Ladakh Police, Police Band Party and 2 school contingents participated in the march past and the whole Independence Day function was held amid strict observance of COVID-19 SOPs.
Executive Councillor for Social Welfare Aga Syed Hassan Arman Mosavi, Executive Councillor for Works Aga Syed Abbas Razvi, Executive Councillor for Health Mohsin Ali , Deputy Commissioner and CEO, LAHDC, Kargil Santosh Sukhadeve, SSP Kargil Anayat Ali Choudhary, Principal District and Sessions Judge Kargil Muhammad Rafiq Chak, Director Tourism Ladakh Kunzes Angmo, Additional DC Tsering Motup, Additional SP Iftikhar Talib Choudhary, SE PWD Er Ved Prakash, Councilors, BDC Chairpersons, Civil, Police and Army officers, COVID-19 frontline workers besides the representatives of various political, social and religious organizations were also present on the occasion.
CEC Feroz Ahmad Khan extended his congratulations to the peo­ple on the 75th Independence Day and recalled the supreme sacrifices of the na­tional heroes who laid down their lives for the country. He said that the freedom we enjoy today was the result of the adversities and struggles they endured through the course of the freedom movement spanning several decades and hence we ought to be highly indebted to these brave heroes who scarified their lives to ensure us a prosperous and independent country to live in.
Khan also hailed the services of the Army, paramilitary forces and police in guarding the frontiers of the country in harsh weather conditions and for maintaining peace, order and internal security in the country.
The CEC said that it is a matter of great pride that India has won 7 medals at the Tokyo Olympics including 4 bronze medals, 2 silver medals and 1 gold medal. He congratulated the Indian Olympic contingent and extended his best wishes to the Indian Paralympic contingent that includes 54-members.
CEC Khan appreciated the tireless efforts and noteworthy services of all officers and officials of the District Administration Kargil who have worked day in and day out in COVID-19 mitigation measures in the district. He thanked the doctors, paramedical staff, other personnel of the Health Department, Police Department, Municipal Committee, Education and other concerned departments in controlling the second wave of the pandemic which he stated is undoubtedly commendable. He also expressed gratitude to the general public and members of the religious, social and other organizations for their timely cooperation in keeping the district relatively safe from COVID-19.
The CEC also expressed his heartfelt sympathies with the families affected by the recent flash floods in Khawos, Sangrah, Khangral, Bodh Kharboo and other area, and assured them of relief, resettlement and rehabilitation for which all necessary steps are underway on war footing basis. He said that in addition to providing assistance to the affected families in these areas, flood debris has been removed from the flooded areas on war footing and cleaning of irrigation canals, khuls and drains is underway. In addition, the damage assessment process is almost complete with the aim of providing relief and compensation to the affected people which will be provided to the affected families soon.
CEC Feroz Khan also hailed the swift and timely flood restoration measures undertaken by the Revenue, Mechanical Division, Irrigation and Flood Control, PHE, PDD, BRO, NHIDCL besides other concerned departments and agencies and all the voluntary organizations for providing relief and rehabilitation to the families affected by floods. He also expressed his thankfulness to the UT Administration Ladakh especially the Lieutenant Governor R K Mathur for releasing Rs 1.5 crores immediately in view of the losses due to the flood situation. He also urged the LG to announce a special package for the affected families at the earliest possible.
Making mention of the performance and achievements of the present Hill Council, the CEC said that LAHDC Kargil is fully committed to ensure all out development of the district, and concrete measures are being taken to achieve this goal. He said that while the development process in education, public health, PWD, agriculture, tourism and other sectors is in full swing, on the other hand, several important steps are being taken to strengthen other sectors as well.
Khan said that despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been quite successful in continuing our children’s education in one form or the other. He said that during the early stages of the pandemic, different mediums were used to reach out to remote areas and some of the initiatives taken in this regard were radio classes, classes through DD Ladakh and classes conducted through various social media channels.
“Once the second wave of COVID- 19 subsided, more than 2,300 volunteers and 1,700 teachers were engaged in offering offline community classes, and more than 18,000 students in grades 1st to 9th directly benefited from the move. The concept of community classes prevalent here was appreciated not only at UT level but also at the national level”, the CEC said. He further said that keeping in view the problems faced by the students during their online classes, the UT Administration Ladakh has launched a free tablet scheme for the students of class VI to XII for which we are highly indebted.
Highlighting the pace of progress on different infrastructure development works in education sector, the CEC said that among other works underway, in order to make classrooms feasible for teaching in winters and early and late spring, central heating system facilities have been approved for 14 higher secondary and 22 high schools under SDP.
With regard to the present status of manpower and machinery to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and any possible 3rd wave, CEC Khan said that a number of important steps have been taken to strengthen the health sector, with special focus on providing better public health services to the general population. He said that the number of oxygen beds at the Dedicated COVID-19 Hospital Kargil and other health centres in the district has been enhanced, while other measures include increase in the productivity of oxygen plants and speeding up the vaccination campaign in the district. To collect samples of passengers arriving in the district, necessary equipments have also been procured while the first dose of COVID-19 vaccination has also been completed in the district for all age groups except pregnant women, during which 80322 people have been vaccinated while 20651 people have been vaccinated with the second dose.
“Currently, 4 new machines have been installed at RT-PCR Lab Kargil with the help of which 2000 samples can now be tested in a single day, while high quality CB-NAT machines have also been installed in all blocks across the district. In addition, 2 critical care ambulances for District Hospital Kargil and COVID- 19 Hospital have been procured, and 6 ambulances have been procured for the purpose of transporting patients from different parts of the district in case of emergency.
Khan said that in order to ensure oxygen supply in view of the 3rd wave of COVID-19, we have set up a capacity of 90 beds in the district including 10 paediatric ICU beds, 10 adult ICU beds and 70 oxygenated beds. In addition, at present we have an oxygen supply production capacity of 1200 LPM, including a 1000 LPM capacity oxygen plant at the Dedicated COVID-19 Hospital Kargil and a 100 LPM capacity plants each at CHC Padum and Drass.
“In order to alleviate the travel problems faced by patients and students during the severe winter months, with the help of the UT Administration, we are in the process of constructing helipads in all areas which remain cut off from the rest of the world due to heavy snowfall. In this regard, the trial landing of 26-seater MIL helicopters has been successfully carried out at Drass, Civil Helipad Kargil, Wakha, Henaskote, Sapi, Rangdum and Padum. In addition, recci has also been completed in Kargaik, Sankoo, Barsoo, Tangole, Batalik, Chiktan, Lungnaq and Tungri. At the same time, Padum Helipad and Civil Helipad Kargil have also been upgraded”, the CEC said.
As regards to the employment of the youth, the CEC said that the LAHDC has been repeatedly requesting the UT Administration Ladakh to advertise jobs in UT. He further said that the recruitment process for the 210 posts already advertised by DSSRB Kargil will begin soon.
Regarding the status of power sector, Khan said that we have successfully connected 2 more valleys of the district to the national power grid for 24 hours power supply. At the same time, the long-pending demand of the people from Lalung in Aryan Valley to Garkone and from Tangol in Suru Valley to Parkachik has been met.
Making mention of several important achievements in Works Sector, the CEC said that Rs 5 crores have been sanctioned for the construction of Kargil Bhawan in Delhi. “This task has been assigned to CPWD and all formalities have been completed and work on the project, which has been delayed due to COVID-19 is expected to begin soon”, Khan said. He further said that in order to stabilize the snow removal works on important and internal roads during winter and to carry out rehabilitation works during emergencies like floods, cloudbursts, etc the Mechanical Division Kargil has been equipped with state-of-the-art and appropriate number of machines and as a major step towards achieving this goal, under the SDP scheme, the procurement of 63 different machines at a cost of about Rs 23 crores has been completed so far, while 10 prefabricated huts with 26 different machines will be purchased at a cost of about Rs 37 crores.
“I am happy to tell you all that we have been able to find sustainable energy solutions to solve some of the problems we face. One such example is the use of solar energy to irrigate our agricultural lands. We have successfully installed a 41 HP 50 KW solar water pump at Latoo village which is capable of carrying water directly over a direct head range of 130-160 meters and discharges water at a speed of 54 cubic meters per hour. I hope that such initiatives will play an important role in resolving our irrigation problems in the days to come”, the CEC said.
The CEC said that to provide clean and safe drinking water to the rural population under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the UT Administration Ladakh has set a target of providing individual functional household tap connection to every rural household by August 15, 2022. He said that the LAHDC Kargil is constantly monitoring this prestigious project on a priority basis to ensure that targets are met within the stipulated time frame and safe, clean and adequate drinking water is provided to every household in the district. While appreciating the continued enthusiasm of the public representatives, PRI members and BDC Chairpersons and especially the local communities in the smooth and successful implementation of this scheme at the grassroots level, he expressed hope that they will continue their support to ensure completion of the scheme in a time bound manner so that the people at large are benefitted.
Enumerating measures to augment agriculture, horticulture and allied sectors the CEC said that our Council has accorded topmost priority towards the development of these sectors to improve the living conditions of the farmers. He said that among the initiatives being taken to achieve this goal, drip irrigation system is being successfully installed in Sodh which will be useful for farmers in the area.
CEC Feroz Khan said that to provide opportunities to the progressive farmers in the district to ensure drying of apricot and its products in a hygienic manner, 172 solar dryer low space heating systems were installed in different villages at 90% subsidy for 2.60 lakh per unit per beneficiary, adding he said that on-farm packing and handling units on 50 percent subsidy to 290 farmers have also been provided at a cost of Rs 580 lakh during the year 2021-22.
“In each of the 26 constituencies of LAHDC, we have sanctioned an amount of Rs 25 crores under the subsidy component during the current financial year for direct benefit of the people. This amount has been approved to facilitate the transfer of benefits directly to the people under agriculture and related sectors. For the implementation of the scheme, the process of identifying the beneficiaries in the respective constituencies is underway through the Councillors”, the CEC said.
Making mention of the progress achieved in respect of various works under the RDD Sector, the CEC said that construction of 40 Community Facilitation Centres, 10 Panchayat Houses, 10 BDO / BDC Offices, 33 Public Libraries, 15 Public Parks and 59 Link Roads in different blocks of the district have been completed during the current financial year while the construction work is in full swing for the completion of the remaining works.
The CEC said that to promote tourism, this year we celebrated National Tourism Day and National Event of Adventure Tourism (NEAT) on a grand scale in January in Kargil with the participation of the Union Minister for Tourism. He said that under SDP, approval has been given for protection and beautification of old market Apo Bazaar Kargil, construction of Mega Convention Centre and Riverfront Development in the district.
Khan further said that the Apricot Blossom Festival was organized for the first time from April 5 to 15, 2021 at various places in the district as part of the important initiatives to promote tourism in the district in a new way, while with the objective of promoting winter tourism in the district, three-day Winter Conclave was held with the participation of more than 30 leading tour operators, travellers and bloggers from across the country. He expressed hope that these initiatives will not only boost tourism activities in the district, but also increase the income of people from different walks of life.
Khan expressed gratitude to his team of the Executive Councilors and Councilors, Deputy Commissioner Kargil and the team of officers for continuous support and dedicated services in the implementation of the developmental works in the district. He also thanked the BDC Chairpersons, Sarpanchs and Panchs for their all-time support and cooperation to the LAHDC, Kargil in effective implementation of developmental works and welfare schemes on ground.
The CEC also appealed people to follow the COVID-19 preventive measures and SOPs in letter and spirit so as to ensure safety of self, family and society as a whole from the deadly pandemic.
Later, the CEC and other dignitaries distributed mementoes and certificates among the COVID-19 frontline workers for their extraordinary and exemplary services for public safety and welfare, prize winning students of online yoga contest and painting, poetry and speech contest besides different officers, officials and individuals for their exemplary contributions in different sectors
Meanwhile, Independence Day was also celebrated at Sub Division Drass, Sankoo, Zanskar and Shakar Chiktan besides Tehsil Tai Suru and Shargole.
SDM Shakar Chiktan Muhammad Sharif Kakpori unfurled the tricolor at SDM Office Premises Shakar Chiktan, SDM Zanskar Sonam Dorjay at Sports Stadium Padum, SDM Drass Anwar Hussain at Higher Secondary School Drass and Tehsildar Sankoo Kaniz Fatima at Mini Stadium Sankoo respectively.
Tehsildar Tai Suru Sajjad Hussain unfurled the national flag at Higher Secondary School Panikhar while In Charge Tehsildar Shargole Sonam Joldan unfurled the tricolor at Higher Secondary School Shargole.
Meanwhile, Independence Day functions were also held at several government offices, colleges and schools in the district.