Leh: As the monsoon session of Parliament concluded, the Member of Parliament Jamyang Tsering Namgyal has several important issues of Union Territory of Ladakh in Lok Sabha.
As per the details available with Indus Dispatch, in the first question raised by MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal in recently concluded Parliaments’ monsoon session, the union government has informed that one medical college has been approved for Leh at a cost of Rs 325 crore, which is to be shared between Centre and the UT Administration of Ladakh in the ratio of 90:10.
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In a written reply, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Bharati Pawar said that the medical college has been approved under Phase-III of a centrally sponsored scheme namely ‘Establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing district/referral hospitals.”
He said that out of Central share of Rs 292.50 crore, Rs 127 crore has already been released to the UT Administration under this Scheme.
“As per Scheme guidelines, the UT Administration is the implementing agency and the planning, execution and commissioning of the project is to be done by the UT Administration,” he added.
In a another reply to question raised by MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, the Centre made it clear that it has no plans to establish a separate Public Service Commission (PSC) for the Union Territory of Ladakh and the UPSC will serve the needs of the educated youth of Ladakh .
“There is no plan to establish Ladakh Public Service Commission,” Nityanand Rai, MoS Home said.
The Union Minister said that the Section 93(1) of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 provides that “The Public Service Commission for the existing State of Jammu and Kashmir shall, on and from the appointed day, be the Public Service Commission for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir” and section 93(2) of the said Act provides that “the Union Public Service Commission, with the approval of the President, shall serve the needs of the Union Territory of Ladakh”.
“Further, para 2(3) of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Removal of the Difficulties) Order, 2019 provides that the Union Public Service Commission shall make recruitments for Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ (Gazetted) posts only in respect of the Union Territory of Ladakh,” Rai added.
Pertinently, various groups of Ladakh including student unions have been demanding establishment of a separate PSC for the region after it was granted the status of Union Territory.
The Minister also ruled out the possibility of applying Ladakh Resident Certificate in recruitment for Gazetted posts in UT of Ladakh for the time being.
“As on date, the provisions of the Ladakh Resident Certificate Order, 2021 are applicable only to the non-Gazetted posts borne on the establishment of any Department or Service of the Administration of Union Territory of Ladakh,” the union minister said.
In another question of MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal , Union government informed that as many as 303 sites, including 161 existing sites, will have 4G services in the remote areas of Union Territory of Ladakh.
It also said that Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sent a proposal for provision of 4G mobile services at all Border Out Posts (BoPs) of Border Guard Forces (BGFs) including Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to the Ministry of Communications for processing and approval.
“Under Atma-nirbhar initiative of the government, BSNL floated the Expression of Interest (EOI) on January 1, 2021 for registration-cum-Proof of Concept (PoC) from Indian Companies interested in participating in 4G tender. The PoC has been provisionally completed. BSNL will convert the existing 161 sites into 4G and additional 142 4G sites are also planned in the Union Territory of Ladakh,” said MoS Communications, Devusinh Chauhan in response to a question of Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal in the Parliament.
The Minister also said that the Cabinet in its meeting held on June 14 this has, inter-alia, reserved spectrum for BSNL for providing 5G services.
“The uncovered villages of the country, including the union territory of Ladakh, are being covered by the Government, under USOF scheme, and Telecom Service Providers in a phased manner,” he said.
Meanwhile , the Centre has approved 224 remote villages in the Union Territory of Ladakh for 4G mobile services in its efforts to improve mobile network services in the region.
This is against the backdrop of the locals, students and youths demanding for the quality of Mobile network and data services in Ladakh to avail online classes and even vaccination.
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The move also holds strategic importance in view of growing influence of aggressive China which has locked in a tense standoff with India in the Eastern Ladakh.
“ModiSarkar approved 224 villages of Ladakh for 4G. Hon Minister Sh. @AshwiniVaishnaw Ji handed over the list of 224 villages to MP @jtnladakh; set to get 4G network. Gratitude to Hon PM Sh. @narendramodi Ji, Sh. @AshwiniVaishnaw Ji for fulfilling the requirements of Ladakh,” announced Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal in a tweet.
Responding to another query of MP Ladakh, Centre informed that the proposed Sindhu Central university in Union Territory will not only attract insiders but people from across the country, the Union Government said that the University and Ladakh university will share resources (Teachers & infrastructure) function synergistically complementing each other.
“The new Central University would not only attract insiders but from across the country. The new Central University will share resources (Teachers & infrastructure) with the University of Ladakh. Both the universities would function synergistically complementing each other,” Minister of Education said in written reply to question raised by Member of Parliament Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal.
“University of Ladakh is running 22 courses for the benefit of students of Ladakh in both campuses. Accordingly, Sindhu Central University would have mostly different subjects than the ones offered by the University of Ladakh,” reads the reply of Lok Sabha.
The reply further said University of Ladakh is a State University which was established in 2019 by the Act No. LVI of 2018 of State Legislature of Jammu & Kashmir.
“The Name of the University is included in the list of Universities established as per section 2 (f) of the UGC Act, 1956. University of Ladakh is running 22 courses viz. Botany, Arabic, Chemistry, Computer Sciences, English, Geography, Urdu, Environment Science, MA (Education), B.Ed. B.PED, Zoology, Mathematics, Geology, Commerce, Political Science, History, Economics, Forensic Science, Police Adm., Sociology, MTTM,” the reply reads.
The reply further reads that the University of Ladakh has two campuses, one at Leh and other at Kargil consisting of few Academic blocks, one administrative office and small hostel facility at both Leh and Kargil Campuses besides the six constituent colleges viz. EJM Leh, GDC Nubra, GDC Khaltse, GDC Kargil, GDC Drass and GDC Zanskar.
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“The total student enrolment is 549 in the University Campus including the students enrolled in the current academic session 2022-23. The University does not have incubation/skill centre. The University of Ladakh is funded by UT of Ladakh through Grant-in-Aid which for FY 2022-23 stands at Rs. 15.4 Crore. Presently, there are fifty two (52) posts sanctioned by Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir,” the reply reads.
