February 25, 2022: The tussle between Leh and Manali Bikers' Associations over tourism activities seems to be easing as commercially registered motorbikes from both territories will be allowed to enter each other's territories but only along the national highway. However, restrictions on private bikes will continue as usual. The different tourism-based unions and associations in Ladakh do not allow taxis from other states to ply on its internal routes connecting the popular sightseeing places like Pangong lake, Khardungla pass, Nubra Valley, Tsomoriri, etc. The taxis are allowed to ply on only Manali-Leh and Srinagar-Leh national highways. Only private cars are allowed to go anywhere in Ladakh. However, both private and commercially registered motorbikes registered outside Ladakh being used for tourism purposes are not allowed on internal roads. After a recent dispute between the bike unions of Leh and Manali, the bikes from Manali side were not being allowed to enter Ladakh, and similarly bikes from Ladakh were not being allowed to enter Himachal. This was hurting the tourism business of both the regions and tourists were being harassed. The talks to resolve the matter remained unsuccessful. The officials of the Manali Bikers Association and Ladakh Biker Cooperative Association had a meeting on the issue in Leh on Friday (February 25, 2022). And it was decided that commercial bikes from both regions will be allowed on the Leh-Manali national highway. It was decided in the meeting that tourists who ride rented private bikes will not be allowed as it is unauthorized. Manali bikers association general secretary Tenzin Bodh said this is for the first time that both the unions have come on the same platform to resolve the issue. “Now it has been decided that movement of bikes will be allowed only on the Leh-Manali national highway. Commercially registered bikes will
February 25, 2022: The tussle between Leh and Manali Bikers’ Associations over tourism activities seems to be easing as commercially registered motorbikes from both territories will be allowed to enter each other’s territories but only along the national highway. However, restrictions on private bikes will continue as usual. The different tourism-based unions and associations in
The availability of mobile network with high-speed internet connectivity at 14,000 ft high Sarchu on Manali-Leh highway is leaving tourists surprised these days. Reliance Jio has launched its service at Sarchu a few days back. In an effort to strengthen the mobile and internet connectivity in border areas and along important border roads, the 14,000ft high Sarchu on Manali-Leh highway has received 4G mobile connectivity. Strategically important 428km long Manali-Leh highway had no mobile connectivity in more than 260km long stretch of the road between Himachal’s Darcha and Ladakh’s Upshi. Sarchu, 176km from Manali, is a non-inhabited remote plateau at the boundary of Himachal and Ladakh. Sarchu is a popular mid-way halt point on Manali-Leh highway. People from Himachal and Ladakh operate seasonal shops, dhabas and tented accommodations here for tourists and military convoys. The area also serves the Indian Army as its transit point. Now, Sarchu, the most important place on Manali-Leh highway, which has no residential houses or electricity supply, has mobile connectivity with high-speed internet. The travellers, who are listening to ringtone on their mobile phones at Sarchu, are being left surprised these days as nobody had expected mobile network in such a remote area. IT and tribal development minister Ram Lal Markanda was quoted by media as saying, "Reliance Jio is installing a large number of telecom towers across the tribal areas. The company has connected major places of Lahaul-Spiti with 4G connectivity. Most areas along Manali-Sarchu highway is now covered with mobile network. More such towers are proposed to be established." People in trouble used to be left at the mercy of God on this highway as they had no option to call for help. Usually, Indian Army and Border Roads Organisation (BRO) used to help people in distress but the non-availability of the network
The availability of mobile network with high-speed internet connectivity at 14,000 ft high Sarchu on Manali-Leh highway is leaving tourists surprised these days. Reliance Jio has launched its service at Sarchu a few days back. In an effort to strengthen the mobile and internet connectivity in border areas and along important border roads, the 14,000ft
With the Defence Ministry speeding up the exercise to connect Ladakh with a new shorter, better and safer highway, the Darcha-Shinku la-Zanskar valley road, which will become the main road to connect Ladakh with mainland, reopened one month ahead of schedule on Thursday. This road was lying closed following snowfall since October. After completing winter snow clearance operations on Manali-Sarchu-Leh and Srinagar-Zojila-Leh highways, the third road connecting Ladakh with the mainland via 16,600ft high Shinku-la also reopened on Thursday. Ministry of Defence (MoD) is spending thousands of crores on this road to make it the main road to reach Ladakh. As snow clearance on this road has completed, Border Roads Organisation (BRO) will engage in road alignment, widening, and blacktopping of the road between Darcha in Himachal and Padum in Zanskar valley of Ladakh. “Snow has been cleared from Shinku-la. We would have cleared snow much earlier but snowfall remained hampering our works in April and May. We shall now concentrate on widening and blacktopping of the highway along with building retaining and breast walls and culverts. Some bridges are also proposed to be built on the road. The work on traffic tunnel below Shinku-la is also expected to start this year,” a BRO official said. In strategic point of view, the 297-km-long Darcha-Shinku la-Padum-Nimmu road will have many advantages over other two highways which have many mountain passes and take a much longer travel time. This road passes away from both Chinese and Pakistan borders and will allow safe movement to the military convoys. The highway will become the main road for military supply in near future and will be India’s reply to China which is developing its border infrastructure. Darcha, 100km from Manali on Manali-Sarchu-Leh highway, will connect the Leh-Kargil highway at Nimmu, 35km from Leh. Over 50km
With the Defence Ministry speeding up the exercise to connect Ladakh with a new shorter, better and safer highway, the Darcha-Shinku la-Zanskar valley road, which will become the main road to connect Ladakh with mainland, reopened one month ahead of schedule on Thursday. This road was lying closed following snowfall since October. After completing winter
Having spent his all earnings and time in building 38km-long road across Shinkula pass to connect Ladakh’s Zanskar valley with Himachal’s Lahaul, the 79-year-old Tsultim Chinjor, who has been conferred with Padma Shri award, wants better road connectivity between Himachal and Zanskar. A resident of Stongdey village of remote Zanskar valley, lama Chinjor is among 102 recipients of Padma Shri this year. He has been conferred with this prestigious award for social work after his name was recommended by Kargil district administration. Lama has spent many years in Stongdey monastery and also served as a government employee. As a large number of villages in Zanskar were not connected with road and the lone road connecting Zanskar with Kargil used to get blocked after snowfall at Pensi-la pass, lama was searching for better road connectivity. Although Border Roads Organisation (BRO) had planned to connect Zanskar with Himachal via Shinkula pass, lama Chinjor was unhappy with the work progress. Finally, he took up the task to connect nearly 30 villages of the valley with Darcha village of Himachal’s Lahaul. He discussed his plan with the local residents and started raising funds. He finally started building road, for which he even sold his land, and built 38km road from Shinkula to Kargiakh. Lama started building the road on Shinkula pass on June 28, 2014 with help of a hired earthmover, jeep, labourers and ponies. BRO had built 27km of road beyond Darcha and lama started building road beyond this point. In first season, before onset of winter, Lama completed 13km of the jeepable road from Himachal and entered Zanskar. He had a lot more road to build to connect Kargiakh, the first village of Zanskar and then towards Padum. “I spent all my savings in building this road. People of Zanskar and some
Having spent his all earnings and time in building 38km-long road across Shinkula pass to connect Ladakh’s Zanskar valley with Himachal’s Lahaul, the 79-year-old Tsultim Chinjor, who has been conferred with Padma Shri award, wants better road connectivity between Himachal and Zanskar. A resident of Stongdey village of remote Zanskar valley, lama Chinjor is among
Pangong Lake (Pangong Tso), the main tourist attraction of Ladakh, has reopened for tourists after remaining closed for months following the ongoing India-China standoff. According to Leh administration, the lake is open for tourists from January 10 and tourists can obtain an inner-line permit to visit Pangong Lake from the DC office or also online from their official website. The happy news has come when famous Chadar trek of Ladakh has started. A large number of tourists are expected to visit Ladakh in winter months to experience the winter season and frozen Pangong Tso. Pangong lake in the Eastern Ladakh, close to the LAC (disputed Aksai Chin), about 150km from Leh, is the main tourist attraction in Ladakh. The lake known for its bluish water which changes its colours many times in a day is visited by lakhs of tourists every year. However, the lake remained out of reach of tourists this year. With Pangong lake remaining closed for tourists due to unrest at India-China border, it has badly impacted tourism in Ladakh. The hoteliers, travel agents, taxi drivers and other stakeholders were praying for peace at the border so that Pangong Lake opens for tourists once again and bring back tourism business to the cold deserts -- popularly known as mini Tibet. The Ladakh Tourism department has also announced that “Pangong Lake Opens for tourists from January 10” through its twitter post. Although Pangong lake was closed for tourists even before the Galwan valley clashes between India and Chinese troops, the clashes made the lake out of bounds for longer time as tension between both the nations kept mountain ever since. The lake, for the safety of the civilians, was kept closed. As Indian soldiers are in a better position in eastern Ladakh, Pangong Lake has been opened for
Pangong Lake (Pangong Tso), the main tourist attraction of Ladakh, has reopened for tourists after remaining closed for months following the ongoing India-China standoff. According to Leh administration, the lake is open for tourists from January 10 and tourists can obtain an inner-line permit to visit Pangong Lake from the DC office or also online
Confirming that towering peaks of Himalayas have emerged from the Tethys ocean, noted geologist Dr Ritesh Arya has discovered 20 million years old fossil of palm leaves from fragile rocks of Ladakh. Measuring more than 4ft in length, the fossil is expected to be over 20 million years old when the present-day Himalayas were not formed. Arya has discovered the fossil on a fragile rock surface in southern part of Indus river in Leh district. According to him, the fossil represents the near-coastal environment of Ladakh millions of years back as this species is not found anywhere in the present-day Himalayan regions. He said the fragile fossil needs proper care to protect it from being destroyed. He said the site can become a popular tourist destination of Ladakh where tourists will come to see how this region used to be a coastal area millions of years ago. “The fossil has been found from the Tethyan sediments of Ladakh when I was searching for specimens for geological museum and laboratory that I had established a few days back in a school in Ladakh. Tethys sea was once separating India from Tibet in geological history till 20 million years ago. The presence of fossils of palm from the sediments of Indus molasse in Ladakh clearly shows that Ladakh Himalayas were once below the sea. Probably the area till sediments from where the fossils are found were below the sea. Palm fossils represent near-coastal environment,” he said. Arya added that large size of the actual specimens of fossil shows that conditions at the time of deposition would have been hot and humid similar to equatorial climatic conditions. “These types of floras are found nowhere in the modern-day Himalayas. Fossils of palm leaves have been found in Kasauli, Himachal, by HB Medlicott in 1864.
Confirming that towering peaks of Himalayas have emerged from the Tethys ocean, noted geologist Dr Ritesh Arya has discovered 20 million years old fossil of palm leaves from fragile rocks of Ladakh. Measuring more than 4ft in length, the fossil is expected to be over 20 million years old when the present-day Himalayas were not
LEH: “Biking Queens”, a group of 50 women bikers from Gujarat, who aims to ride over 10,000 km and cover 15 states, will reach 18,380 ft high Khardungla pass on August 15 and hoist National Flag here to mark Independence Day. This is the only one of its kind women only bike tours to Ladakh. The group, named Biking Queens, has reached Manali on Wednesday. On Thursday, they shall start their onward journey to Ladakh taking a midway halt at Jispa and Sarchu. The group will reach Leh on Saturday. The ‘All Women All India’ ride which was flagged off in the presence of Anandiben Patel, Ex Chief Minister of Gujarat, on July 19, had been to Gujarat and Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand states covering 5, 547 KM journey. The biking queens have taken inspiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” and “Swachch Bharat”. As part of an ambitious 10,438-km ride, covering 15 states to popularise the Central government campaign “Sashakta Nari, Sashakta Bharat”, “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” and “Swachchh Bharat”. In next 25 days these queens would visit Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and conclude their voyage back in Gujarat. To spread the message of women empowerment and save the girl child, around 50 women riders on a mission to visit schools and interact with bikers from 15 states and would distribute educational kit to student and sanitary kits teenage girls. So far on their voyage these queens have received overwhelming response from the community groups, students, teaching staff of schools. These women bikers were astonished by the honour they received by 150 local male bikers from Dulapally village in Hyderabad. Also Riders of Bangalore, Bangalore’s Riders club and many other bikers met these queens and
LEH: “Biking Queens”, a group of 50 women bikers from Gujarat, who aims to ride over 10,000 km and cover 15 states, will reach 18,380 ft high Khardungla pass on August 15 and hoist National Flag here to mark Independence Day. This is the only one of its kind women only bike tours to Ladakh. The
LEH: The Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir State Dr Nirmal Kumar Singh who is also the Minister for Housing and Urban Development today inspected the site for construction of multi tier parking facility at Leh under AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) and ongoing initial works for Solid Waste Management Plant under Leh beautification project across the mountain of Skampari Leh today morning. He was accompanied by Minister for Ladakh Affairs and Cooperative Chhering Dorjey, Chief Executive Councilor LAHDC Leh Dr. Sonam Dawa, Executive Councilors, DC, Leh Prasanna Ramaswamy G and engineers. While inspecting the site for construction of multi tier parking facility at Leh, the minister was informed that tender for this parking facility with capacity of 263 Cars with a total estimated cost of Rs. 26 crore has already been flouted and Kinetix Company has been engaged as a consultant agency for all the projects in Leh under AMRUT. For earliest completion of this much awaited project, Dy CM Dr. Nirmal directed DC Leh for earliest demolition of all the buildings from the site and also directed him to ensure time bound completion of the facility. Later, while inspecting the initial works of Solid Waste Management system of Leh Town across the mountain of Skampari Leh with the a total sanctioned cost of Rs. 10.94 crore, Dr. Nirmal and Minister Dorjey observed that besides completion of approach road and 2 Nos of Trench executed by Construction Division, no progress was achieved at the site. Inquiring about the reasons for delay in installation of In Vessel Composed Plant at the site from the engineers of WAPCOS Ltd engaged for the project, Dy. CM and Minister Dorjey directed DC Leh to take written dateline statement from the CMD of WAPCOS for earliest completion of this project and
LEH: The Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir State Dr Nirmal Kumar Singh who is also the Minister for Housing and Urban Development today inspected the site for construction of multi tier parking facility at Leh under AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) and ongoing initial works for Solid Waste Management Plant under
LEH: The Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh today said that the contribution of late Kushok Bakula is exemplary which should be propagated especially among the younger generation and he is the architect of the, modern Ladakh The Deputy Chief Minister was speaking at the centenary birth celebration function of Padma Bushan 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche at Leh today. Minister for Cooperatives Chering Dorjay, Chief Executive Councilror LAHDC Dr. Sonam Dawa, MLA Leh Rigzin Jora, Senior officers and other dignitaries were present on the occasion. The Deputy Chief Minister said that the late Rinpoche was responsible for the social transformation of the Ladakhi society. He said that he was the main architect for the modernization of the Ladakh region and people still remember him through the country for his contribution towards the development of this part of the nation. “We should all be thankful to the late leader Kushok Bakula for his visionary and modern outlook which was responsible for bringing the transformation of this hilly region of the State,” Dr. Singh said and maintained that the younger generation should follow the teachings and path shown by the legendary spiritual leader. While referring to various developmental initiatives and schemes undertaken in Ladakh region, the Deputy Chief Minister said that special focus has been given to develop the historic Leh and Kargil towns and they have already been undertaken under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) under which every facet of urban development would be addressed. “An amount of Rs 15.20 crore has been earmarked under urban sector for Leh, whereas Rs 12.26 crore are for Kargil region,” he added. Dr. Singh while directing the officers to ensure that the region gets requisite supply of electric power said that it is essential for the tourist season as well as
LEH: The Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh today said that the contribution of late Kushok Bakula is exemplary which should be propagated especially among the younger generation and he is the architect of the, modern Ladakh The Deputy Chief Minister was speaking at the centenary birth celebration function of Padma Bushan 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
LEH: Sending a message of environment protection and encouraging government employees to adopt the habit of cycling at least one day a week to come to the office, officers of many departments on Saturday peddled in the city. The Chief Executive Councilor, LAHDC, Leh Dr. Sonam Dawa Lonpo led a cycle rally comprising of Executive Councilor for Tourism Tsering Sandup, Executive Councilor for Animal & Sheep Mumtaz Husain, Deputy Commissioner Leh Prasanna Ramaswamy G, SSP Leh Uday Bhaskar Billa, ADC Leh Moses Kunzang and govt officers and officials of Leh district including one female employee (JE, PHE ) which was flagged off from Tourist Information Centre Leh and culminated at Council Secretariat this morning. Inspired from the Gyalwang Drukpa Rinpochey's initiative through cycling for environmental protection, the Hill Council Leh has decided to propagate cycling in the district in order to disseminate a sense of healthy lifestyle amongst the local populace and especially amongst the Government employees, the CEC, LAHDC, Leh Dr. Sonam Dawa Lonpo has desired that from 1st April 2017 on every Saturday, all Govt. employees should endeavour to ride cycle to their place of work. Talking to the media persons on the occasion, Dr Dawa said that this initiative is actually aimed at finding a way out to contribute a small whatever possible to protect the fragile ecology of Ladakh which is on the severe threat in the wake of hugely increasing vehicles and pollution. He expressed happiness over the overwhelming support from the local people on this idea and also appealed the local media to play a vital role about propagation of the importance of healthy environment for better life for all. Hoping for adopting cycle riding by a larger people in the coming days, Dr Dawa said that once the high stature leaders as well as
LEH: Sending a message of environment protection and encouraging government employees to adopt the habit of cycling at least one day a week to come to the office, officers of many departments on Saturday peddled in the city. The Chief Executive Councilor, LAHDC, Leh Dr. Sonam Dawa Lonpo led a cycle rally comprising of Executive Councilor
