QUOTE: “The Army has not been allowing us to undertake development works in Chumar village. Last week, we started work on the construction of a road towards a village located close to the LAC, where the local grazers of our side go along with their cattle, but soldiers forced the contractor to abandon the project. Local Army officers had given a lame excuse that they had been directed by their higher-ups not to allow any kind of development work in the area,” Sonam Dawa Lonpo, CEC, LAHDC
In a major standoff, the Army has forced the civil administration to stop all development works near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Chumar area of the Ladakh region for “unspecified” reasons.
Enraged over the development, the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh, which governs the district politically, has shot off a correspondence to the Defence Ministry, besides lodging a protest with local Army officers.
This is the second major strategic area along the LAC where the Army has forced the civil administration to stop all development works. Last year in September, the Army had reportedly disallowed the administration to undertake development works in Demchok village after Chinese grazers had put up tents in a common grazing ground along the LAC.
The Ladakh region has 225-km-long Line of Control and 955-km-long LAC that includes some portion of the international border and 122-km-long Actual Ground Position Line with China.
A senior official of the district administration, who wished not to be named, said local Army officers had also approached the District Magistrate, Leh, seeking early stoppage of development works in the area.
“The Army has not been allowing us to undertake development works in Chumar village. Last week, we started work on the construction of a road towards a village located close to the LAC, where the local grazers of our side go along with their cattle, but soldiers forced the contractor to abandon the project. Local Army officers had given a lame excuse that they had been directed by their higher-ups not to allow any kind of development work in the area,” said Sonam Dawa Lonpo, Chief Executive Councillor (CEC), LAHDC, Leh.
The CEC said the development works in the area were being executed under the Border Area Development Programme and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme.
“It is quite illogical that aggressive China has resorted to rampant development works and construction of roads on the other side of the LAC while the Indian Army has stopped us from undertaking development works for basic amenities to the people,” he said.
He said they had taken up the matter with local Army officers and lodged a protest. “We have dispatched a letter to the Defence Ministry, requesting it to immediately solve the issue,” the CEC said.
