Animesh Singh & Arjun Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Jammu, Augus

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance on Monday created five new districts for Ladakh, taking the total number of districts in the UT to seven. The new districts — Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang — are in addition to the existing districts of Leh and Kargil.

Provide dist councils

We’ll be happy only if dist councils are also provided in the new administrative units, otherwise these will have no importance in the absence of democracy. Sonam Wangchuk, Educationist

Zanskar and Drass have been created out of Kargil while Sham, Changthang and Nubra have been created out of Leh.

Three of the five new districts share international borders — Changthang is on the Line of Actual Control with China, Drass and Nubra face Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, while Sham and Zanskar are in central Ladakh.

Home Minister Amit Shah today announced the decision of the Centre in a post on X. Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the move, describing it a step towards better governance and prosperity.

“Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang will now receive more focused attention, bringing services and opportunities even closer to the people. Congratulations to the people there,” Modi said. The Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which have been protesting for the past two years over several demands, including statehood, welcomed the decision.

LAB member Chering Dorjay Lakrook said both organisations would continue to protest for the inclusion of Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule, Public Service Commission and two Lok Sabha seats for the UT (presently only one).

The LAB and the KDA are also set to start a “Delhi Chalo” march from September 1 to October 2 to press for their four-point agenda. The march will start from Ladakh and end in New Delhi.

Former BJP MP from Ladakh Jamgyal Namgyal also welcomed the move, pointing out that both Leh and Kargil were enormous — Leh is 45,000 sq km and Kargil 15,000 sq km.

“Earlier governments neglected Ladakh and the demand for more districts had been an old one. Now that the Centre has fulfilled that demand, there will be much better management of development work as deputy commissioners will be deputed and all expenditure for development-related projects will be incurred locally,” Namgyal said.

Security experts said additional districts meant more policing and more human intelligence network in sensitive border areas, especially at a time of LAC tension between India and China.

SD Singh, incumbent Additional Director General of Police, Ladakh, told The Tribune that the creation of five new districts would increase government footprint in sensitive border areas of Kargil. “New SPs will be deputed and manpower created. Also, new police units will be set up in border areas, which will bolster security,” Singh said.

Former DGP of J&K SP Vaid said Zanskar and Drass were far-flung areas and quite distantly located from the district headquarters of Leh. “Zanskar and Drass are sparsely populated, therefore the creation of new districts will help improve connectivity and people will get services on the doorstep. This will further help streamline the administration in these areas,” Vaid said.

However, some analysts in Leh termed the move a ploy to weaken climate activist Sonam Wangchuk’s ongoing agitation for Ladakh’s statehood. A second Leh resident told The Tribune that the decision might divide votes in Ladakh in the future. “Perhaps, the BJP feels that the creation of districts will somewhat diminish the demand for statehood,” he said.

The BJP candidate lost to an Independent candidate in the 2024 Ladakh Lok Sabha poll. Educationist and innovator Sonam Wangchuk, who also sat on a hunger strike for the demand of the Sixth Schedule, said he was thankful to PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. He, however, said the district status for these regions would be useful only if district councils were also provided.

“The district status was an old demand, especially of the Zanskar region, and there was a promise by the government in 2019 that it will be done. We will be happy only if district councils are also provided in new administrative units, otherwise these will have no importance in the absence of democracy,” he said. Leaders from Kargil welcomed the decision but with a rider. KDA member Sajjad Kargili, welcoming the decision, said he would continue to “appeal for an amendment to include the Suru Valley region as a district as well. Not giving district status to Sankoo Suru is injustice towards people of that region”.