Demand for check post at Shinku La to check 'encroachments'

Dipender Manta

Mandi, December 13

Residents of Darcha have urged the district administration to set up a check post at Shinku La on the Darcha-Shinku La-Padum road in Lahaul and Spiti district to check encroachment on the state’s territory from the Ladakh side.

They claimed that over the past some years, Leh residents had “intruded” 17 km into Himachal’s territory at Sarchu on the Manali-Leh highway. Now, they have apprehensions that residents of Ladakh may intrude into the state territory from the Shinku La side. The Darcha-Shinku La-Padum road connects the Lahaul valley of Himachal to the Zanskar valley in Ladakh.

Chhewang Norbu, pradhan of Gram Panchayat, Darcha, say, “Darcha is the last panchayat of the district and shares border with Ladakh at Sarchu on the Manali-Leh highway and at Shinku La on the Darcha-Shinku La-Padum road. The residents of Leh have already intruded into Sarchu. Now, our apprehension is that the residents of Ladakh may enter Himachal territory from the Shinku La side.”

“The gram panchayat has requested the district administration to set up a check post at Shinku La to check encroachment on the Himachal territory from the Ladakh side. So far, the administration has taken no action in this regard. We have also raised the issue with Lahaul and Spiti MLA Ravi Thakur and urged him for a solution to the problem from the state government,” he says.

Dorje Larje, Zila Parishad member of Kolong ward in the Zila Parishad Lahaul and Spiti, says, “It is a matter of concern for the residents of the district that residents of Ladakh have encroached upon Himachal territory at Sarchu. The state government should settle the border dispute to avoid any conflict between the people of two sides.”

Ravi Thakur has raised the issue with the state and Central governments several times but to no avail. He had also raised the issue in the Vidhan Sabha this year and urged the government to take up the issue with the Central Government.

Deputy Commissioner, Lahaul and Spiti, Rahul Kumar says that the administration of Ladakh is not cooperating in resolving the dispute at Sarchu. Last month, a team of the Survey General of India had visited Sarchu for demarcation but no official from Ladakh arrived. He adds that the administration is monitoring Himachal territory with Ladakh at Sarchu and Shinku La but no fresh case of encroachment has come to notice. During the summer, the youths of Lahaul had set up camping sites near Sarchu to earn livelihood.