SRINAGAR: All seven districts of Ladakh will now have autonomous hill development councils, with lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena approving a notification to this effect Thursday. The move paves the way for local self-governance in all seven districts of the UT through the councils, elections to which will be held soon.So far, only Leh and Kargil districts had Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs). On July 13, the central govt announced the creation of LAHDCs for Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass districts, too. The UT administration had notified the creation of the five new districts in April this year.“The framework of elected local self-governance, which was limited to Leh and Kargil, will thereby be also extended to the five newly created districts in the UT,” a govt spokesperson said.The elections to the newly constituted councils will be held in due course after a formal notification is issued under section 8 of the LAHDC Act, 1997, the spokesperson said, adding that the notification would come into force from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.The LAHDC-Leh was established under the LAHDC Act, 1995, while the LAHDC-Kargil was set up in 2003. Elections for both the councils are held every five years.Currently, only the LAHDC-Kargil has an elected body, as elections to its counterpart in Leh could not be held following the Sept 24 violence last year, when four people were killed after the police allegedly opened fire on protesters demanding Sixth Schedule protections and statehood for the region.
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In a statement here, Saxena thanked PM Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah for the historic step, stating that the establishment of the seven councils was a milestone in strengthening grassroots governance in Ladakh, allowing local aspirations and priorities to be reflected more effectively in district-level planning and development.
