Delegation of Ulma Council Drass led by Altaf Hussain met Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Brigadier (Dr) BD Mishra (Retd) on February 14.
Commissioner Secretary, Health and Medical Education, Ladakh, Dr Vasanthakumar N, IAS; Secretary to LG, Ravinder Kumar, IAS; Director, Health Services, Ladakh, Dr Motup Dorje and Deputy Secretary, School Education, Ladakh, Sumaira Shafi, JKAS, were present in the meeting.

Altaf Hussain raised several demands, including funding for the Madrasa School construction, establishing a Madrasa Board in UT Ladakh, allocating land for an orphan boy’s school, filling Arabic teaching positions, training Ulma Council volunteers for rescue operations, building Drass House in Leh, setting up a fire services station in Drass, filling doctor vacancies at the Drass Hospital, ensuring the Trauma Unit in Drass functions fully, hiring Shina language editors, introducing Shina language books in primary and elementary school, establishing a Polytechnic College and ITI in Drass, recognizing local religious holidays of Ahle Sunat Wal Jamaat in UT Calendar and the establishment of library under Ulma Council at Drass, and creating a library under the Ulma Council. 

Commissioner/ Secretary, Health and Medical Education, Ladakh, Dr Vasanthakumar N, IAS, informed LG that the Trauma Unit at Drass would be made functional soon with the selection of five specialist doctors for which interview candidates have already been completed.

Deputy Secretary, School Education, Department, Ladakh, Sumaira Shafi informed LG that three languages, viz. Hindi, Urdu and Bhoti were introduced in the schools of UT Ladakh as per the CBSE guidelines. 

L-G instructed Altaf Hussain to submit proposals for the Madrassa school building construction and allocation of land for the construction of the Madrassa school building for boys to the LAHDC Kargil. Additionally, 12 Firefighting vehicles were acquired by the UT Administration for fire incidents in Ladakh.

LG tasked the Deputy Secretary, of the School Education Department, Ladakh to address the vacant Arabic teaching positions and investigate the Library construction at Drass under the Ulma Council. Furthermore, the Commissioner/ Secretary was directed to assist in these matters.

Health and Medical Education, Ladakh, was instructed to fill the vacant doctor's positions at the Sub-District Hospital in Drass promptly and ensure the Trauma Unit operation.

LG directed Secretary Ravinder Kumar to request Deputy Commissioner Kargil to provide training and equipment for the volunteers of Ulma Council Drass for rescue operations. He also directed the concerned department to start the vocational/ skill courses in the colleges and schools across Ladakh.