Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 4

The authorities in Jammu and Kashmir are facing an uphill task of setting up administration for the proposed Union Territory of Ladakh.

To put an effective chain of administration in place, the government is facing a shortage of officials of the rank of Special Secretaries to head departments in Kashmir. Even Ladakh does not have enough number of native lower-rung officials and employees to run the administration.

In the first phase, the government will shift officers and employees of Ladakh presently working in J&K state.

“To fill the shortfall, the government will be deputing officers from Jammu and Kashmir to the Union Territory of Ladakh for a two-year term on a rotation basis until a proper administration is set up there. It obviously is a difficult process,” a senior officer told The Tribune.

However, sources said most of the officers of Ladakh, who have settled in Jammu or Kashmir, are unwilling to go back to their native place.

“Ladakh was always a punishment posting for the employees of J&K. Who would like to work in that cold desert for the entire year?” asked an officer of Leh presently posted at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar.

“The government has put an end to the state’s diverse administrative culture, which was a confluence of Ladakhi Buddhists, Muslim Kashmiris and Dogra Jammuites. After the displacement of Kashmiri Pandits, the Valley had already lost its diversity. Now this comes as a death blow to it,” he said.

The BJP-led NDA government scrapped the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh on August 5.

Prior to that Governor Satya Pal Malik-led State Administrative Council (SAC) in July had approved the creation of 495 posts of various categories for fully operationalising Ladakh.

The 495 new posts created include posts of 12 Directors, four Chief Engineers, four Joint Directors, Chief Conservator of Forests, Regional Wildlife Warden and other senior positions.

Over 470 more posts at different levels and belonging to a variety of departments were created to support the directorates and chief engineer offices that would be established in Ladakh.

The government on August 20 constituted a six-member committee headed by Principal Secretary, Home, Shalin Kabra to suggest measures to be taken for providing staff to the proposed UT of Ladakh and any other issue related to the staff of the proposed UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

Every department in the existing set up of J&K would submit personal and service details of their employees to the General Administration Department, official sources said.

The data would be presented before the Kabra-led committee to take a final call on the distribution of employees.

“In the next few weeks, we will prepare a complete list of employees to be shifted to Ladakh,” said an officer.

However, a woman officer from the region said she would resign if she would be sent on deputation to Ladakh.

Cold feet for cold desert posting

• Sources said most of the officers of Ladakh, who have settled in Jammu or Kashmir, are unwilling to go back to their native place.
• “Ladakh was always a punishment posting for the employees of J&K. Who would like to work in that cold desert for the entire year?” asked an officer of Leh presently posted at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar.