Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh today led a cleanliness drive from Khardongla Pass ( 18380 Feet), the highest motorable road in the world to Leh to conclude the 15-days cleanliness drive under Swach Bharat Mission. The campaign was flagged off at Leh district by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama from Jivetsal Choglamsar on 24 August, 2016. The concluding ceremony was attended by Minister for Ladakh Affairs & Cooperatives Tsering Dorjey, Chief Executive Councillor, LAHDC, Leh Dr. Sonam Dawa Lonpo, Executive Councilors, Councilors, Commissioner/Secretary Housing and Urban Development Department, Director ULBK Tufail Matoo and all the HODs of district administration Leh. On the occasion Dy. CM also flagged off a Cycling Expedition with an aim to infuse a sense of responsibility towards cleanliness among people.
Officials of Rural Development Department and District officers also participated in the expedition from Khardongla top towards Leh. Speaking on the occasion, The Dy CM Nirmal Singh said the nationwide cleanliness drive and awareness initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached to the roof of the world as the drive has been started in Leh. He said to achieve the dream of Nirmal Bharat by 2019, the Swach Bharat Mission should not be restricted to campaign but should become day to day activity of people to keep their surrounding safe. During the campaign, a two-minute silence was observed in respect of 18 soldiers of Indian Army who were killed at Uri on Sunday. Earlier, Minister for Ladakh Affairs & Cooperatives J&K Tsering Dorjey Lakrook while addressing the gathering said that only cleanliness drive is not the solution to maintain the hygiene of an area saying that it is important to infuse good habits among people so that they don’t need cleanliness drive repeatedly.
CEC Dr. Sonam Dawa Lonpo said that in last 15 days all the 93 Panchyat Halqas of Leh district were cleaned under Swachh Bharat Mission and the idea of concluding this drive at Khardongla top was to spread the message of cleanliness from top of the world.Later Dr. Nirmal Singh announced an amount of Rs. 1 crore from state sector out of Urban Development Department for the development of Leh town. He said that their aim is to work for the development of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh without any discrimination and stressed on all the elected representatives, district officers and other stakeholders to focus on coordination among each other to take maximum benefit of the flagship programmes. MLA Leh Nawang Rigzin Jora, Commissioner Secretary Housing and Urban Development Department J&K Hirdesh Kumra and Director ULBK Tufail Matoo were also present on the occasion.