This village in cold desert of Kargil has ”scarcity of governance” too

By Nazeer Ganaie

Oct 1, 2020

Srinagar: Disappointment, worry and anxiety is writ large on the face of women in Shilkchay village, which is situated near LoC in the cold desert district of Kargil region, as they are coping with the current impact on their livelihood due to the Covid-created situation, with the government, as they say, being “absent on the ground”.

No government-sponsored schemes reach them and there is no awareness created from the administration about these schemes, the villagers said.

“We haven’t seen any official from the government side coming to take stock of the situation in our village,” said, Khatija Bano, a local from Silkchay village. “Our village is not so far from the main Kargil town, so the underdevelopment in the ara is surprising ,” she said.

Bano was seconded by her friends, who were part of an online programme on engaging women. The meeting was organized by the Srinagar based policy group, EHSAAS, which has held various interactions with women from the Kargil and Leh, especially, in the villages near LoC.

“Living in Kargil or Ladakh region in itself is a big challenge and things have not been easy since last year. Before this too, we have witnessed minimal intervention from the government functionaries to address the problems of our village and the villages, living along LoC,” said Mehjabeena Bano, another participant and a local from the village Mehjabeena Bano.

The women say no government-sponsored schemes reach them. There is no awareness regarding these schemes by the administration. They said womenfolk are grappling with unemployment.

Another participant, Marzia Bano, a college-going student, from the village, said the government is making many tall claims but, so far benefit of not even a single scheme has reached them. “We are in immense losses and pain and struggling on a daily basis,” she said.

The villagers say that with uncertainty looming large, the apricot orchardists in the Shilkchay and other adjoining villages are struggling to market their products.

“We have no market available for the apricot produce. If the situation had allowed, we would have preferred to ship it outside markets and gained good profit,” said Zahra Bano, a local. “We haven’t seen any government officer coming and doing any assessment in our area,” she said. Her village mostly depends on farming for livelihood and apricot is its main produce.

“I want to ask Modi Ji, you address the nation and emphasize on taking good governance to the grassroots level. Where is it (government), where are the schemes and where is the development?” she said.

Bakir Ahmad, a local from an adjoining Loc village said, most of these villages remain cut off from the rest of Kargil in winters. The government need to take a humanitarian view of our situation, as we are suffering and no one is listening to us”.

EHSAAS has launched a series of meetings and research trips in various areas of Ladakh region in order to understand the gender perspective of the socio-economic issues, confronting these areas.

According to the organizers, the exercise in the region was launched, in order to explore ways of improving the lives of women living near the LoC by identifying the major challenges confronting these women.

Ehsaas, under its initiative on Women in Tourism Empowerment programme has been working in the region of Ladakh, especially Kargil to bring it on the tourism map.

Earlier, it has held a series of interactions with women living in Hunderman, which is the last village near the line of control and documented their issues and stories. The women in that area have been given basic skills in tourist behaviour, as trekkers and climbers, in addition to training them as women guides to enhance their employment opportunities.

Ezabir Ali, Founder, Secretary Ehsaas said, “it is hoped with these small interventions, Kargil will receive attention as a must-visit tourist destination iand also help to broaden the scope of career options for women of that region in addition to gender mainstreaming”.

Deputy Commissioner, Kargil, Choudhary Baseer-U-Haq Choudhary, said that on the directions of lieutenant Governor, Ladakh, the district administration was asked to carry out proper surveys of the developmental needs of the various areas. He said that since COVID-19 paralyzed the normal life globally, life remained immensely affected in the cold desert region.

“We are aware of some of the pressing issues of the various areas falling in Kargil district and we are doing our best to reach out to the people with some initiatives,” he said.

He said the district the administration had launched a massive awareness campaign among people to inform them about Government programes but it has been put on hold for some time due to the surge in COVID cases.

“Kargil is a small town with a very minimal population and the surge in COVID cases was a big concern for us, so, for now, we have put everything on halt, but once we will see any window, we will soon be reaching out to the people with government-run welfare measures,” he said.

He said some of the positive changes that happened over time are that the district plan has been increased to Rs 232 crores, and all the languishing projects, and ongoing work had neared completion.

“Till date, there is no pendency and we are almost done with all these projects,” he said.

The Deputy CommissionerC said that the district administration has been directed to prepare a project Rs 500 core under Skill and Social Infrastructure. “Lot of things are happening at the same time. In COVID mitigation, we have been able to establish 100-bedded COVID dedicated hospital where we have round the clock oxygen available from the plant itself.”

However, one of the women of the village who did not want to be named said, ” All the government launched schemes are just planned on paper.”
—INDIA NEWS STREAM