Union Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju in presence of Lieutenant Governor, Ladakh, R K Mathur and MP Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal inaugurated the Zanskar Winter Sports and Youth Festival, 2021 on January 21 at Zanskar Ski School Padum.

Kiren Rijiju in his address said that the winter sports and youth festival under Khelo India has been conducted with the twin objective to promote winter sports and adventure activities and to provide ideal platform to the local youth to explore their hidden talent in modern as well as traditional games and sports.

The Minister congratulated the UT Administration Ladakh and people of Zanskar for organizing such a grand event successfully.

He said that the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to bring changes in the life of the people of Ladakh.  He said that the grant of UT status is a major step to achieve this goal, adding it will protect the basic character of Ladakh including its language, culture and identity that people will realize its full potential and benefits in the coming years.

The Minister assured to provide sports infrastructure in all villages of Ladakh and said that Ladakh will be developed as the largest center of Ice Hockey in the country. He further said that both sports and adventure activities are necessary for this region to boost the economy and culture and the Ministry of Sports, GoI in close coordination with the UT Administration Ladakh will take concrete steps to develop sports sector here in the coming years.

L-G Ladakh, R K Mathur in his address said that Zanskar has huge potential in winter tourism and need of the hour for the local people of this area is to change their mindset of migrating to other places during winter months and work hard here to bring economic prosperity.

He also congratulated all the stakeholders who made this mega event a historic one and said that UT Administration is committed to the development of all regions of Ladakh.

MP Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal also spoke on the occasion and said that on the pattern of this ongoing event, he had initiated the proposal for winter tourism festival to boost tourism in Zanskar. He said that his idea of trekking on the Chadar Trek was to promote the route for tourists and also to physically visit the villages and inspect the roads on this route. 

Executive Councillor LAHDC Kargil, Er Phunsog Tashi while addressing the gathering raised various issues of Zanskar viz; district status for etc. He thanked the UT Administration for providing helicopter service, road connectivity and telecommunication to the region. 

Earlier, DC Kargil Baseer ul Haq Choudhary briefed the dignitaries about various events to be held during the 13 days long festival.

A 13 day Zanskar Winter and Youth Festival 2021 will continue till 30^th of January, in which various cultural and sports activities like ice hockey, snow skiing, horse riding, yak riding, ice climbing, snow sculpture, archery matches, local food festival, yoga and meditation sessions and other related activities are being held.

Around 700 people from various different parts of Zanskar are participating in the event.