Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, who is on a two days visit to Ladakh region, today said that the endeavor of her Government would be to connect regions, people and places in the State. She said Ladakh holds a special place for the State as it connects Jammu & Kashmir with the whole of Central Asia.Addressing a special session of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh here this evening, the Chief Minister said the aim of stitching the present alliance in Jammu & Kashmir was to connect with every region and place and find solutions to the problems of the State together with each other. She said at a time when the world is shrinking in terms of the connectivity we also need to connect to each other for marching towards prosperity and development of the State. She said under her Government there would be no bias for or against any region and every section of the society would have equitable opportunities of growth.
Mehbooba Mufti said she favours opening of more routes to get the State connected to more and more emerging economic opportunities. She said she favours starting of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through Leh so that the area gets a tourist and economic boost. Similarly, opening of ancient Central Asian routes like Yarkand and Xingiang in the region would not only give the region more connectivity but expose it to a vast market of Central Asia, she added.The Chief Minister said the region has been an abode of communal harmony since ages and asked people to further strengthen these bonds. She underscored the need for more and more exchanges and interactions between people of different regions of the State in which, she said, lies the solution to many problems of the State.The Chief Minister said her Government wants to promote Ladakh region as a gateway for the State to connect with the outer world. She said Ladakh has a great potential in tourism and it would be exploited optimally. She assured that the issues confronting the Hill Council would be looked into.
She also assured to look into the issue of pending liabilities of LAHDC on account of previous cloudburst. She said work on Zojila tunnel would start soon and assured to look into the bottlenecks coming in the expeditious execution of the project.She also assured proper funding to the projects of macadamization, road connectivity and other infrastructure development in the region.Earlier in his welcome address, Chief Executive Councilor, LAHDC, Dr. Sonam Dawa thanked the Chief Minister for having visited the region during inhospitable climate. He said this shows the commitment and dedication of the Chief Minister towards people of all regions of the State.Chairman, Legislative Council, Haji Anayat Ali; Minister for Education, Naeem Akhar; Minister for Cooperatives & Ladakh Affairs T. Dorjey; Chairman, LAHDC, Leh, Dr. Sonam Dawa; Executive members of LAHDC, Leh; Deputy Commissioner, Leh, Prasanna Ramaswamy; SP, Leh, Uday Bhaskar and other senior officers were present on the occasion.Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister inaugurated and laid foundation of several tourism development projects in the region.The Chief Minister arrived in Leh early this morning on a two day visit.