Harried by district administration, Leh NGO seeks audience with President
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President
Having allegedly offended a bureaucrat and got branded as anti-
national, acclaimed social reformer from Ladakh Sonam Wangchuk,
apparently annoyed with non-seriousness of the state government is
seeking an appointment with president of India A.P.J.Abdul Kalam for
getting his grievances redressed.
Wangchuk says that he has communicated to Ladakhi bureaucrats and
ministers in the state government about the alleged high handedness of
the district development commissioner M.K.Diwedi and inability of the
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) in dealing with
this crisis situation. He maintains that Diwedi has troubled
organizational heads of all Non-governmental organizations (NGO) in
Ladakh.
Wangchuk says that after having served with accredited and approved
success for 19 long years in revitalizing the system of education in
remote areas of Ladakh, a bureaucrat is seeking a certificate of
nationality and integrity from him. He maintains that he is being vic
timized for having led a resistance movement against the alleged
highhandedness of the deputy commissioner.
Wangchuk says that it all started when he made a speech in a
conference organized by District Industries Department (DID), Leh on
youth and employment. "It started from April 3, 2006 when during the
speech I said that in government jobs, from the chief secretary to an
ordinary peon, people live on tax payers money, apparently deputy
commissioner was offended by this comment," said Wangchuk.
He added that he received an angry telephone call from the Deputy
Commissioner M.K.Diwedi that evening. "I profusely apologized saying
that I did not mean to offend any profession, I even send him an
apology note, but on the very next day, he sent an order no DC-(NGO)
06(704) dated 4-4-2006 to all the NGO's including religious and
charitable institutions asking them to present monthly reports to the
Deputy Commissioner's office, failing which reports would be conducted
on their registered offices," added the Ladakhi reformer.
He stressed that immediately after this; a network of Ladakhi NGO's
called Ladakh Voluntary Network (LVN) through a letter dated
30-05-2006 responded to the order of the deputy commissioner. "All the
NGO's uniformly decided to submit their accounts of last three years
to the chairman of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC)
Chhering Dorje; the same was stated in the letter addressed to Deputy
Commissioner," added Wangchuk. Having allegedly offended a bureaucrat
and got branded as anti-national, acclaimed social reformer from
Ladakh Sonam Wangchuk, appar- ently annoyed with non-seriousness of
the state government is seeking an appointment with president of India
A.P.J.Abdul Kalam for getting his griev- ances redressed. Wangchuk
says that he has communi- cated to Ladakhi bureaucrats and minis- ters
in the state government about the alleged high handedness of the
district development commissioner M.K.Diwedi and inability of the
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) in dealing with
this crisis situation. He maintains that Diwedi has troubled orga-
nizational heads of all Non-governmen- tal organizations (NGO) in
Ladakh. Wangchuk says that after having served with accredited and
approved success for 19 long years in revitalizing the system of
education in remote areas of Ladakh, a bureaucrat is seeking a cer-
tificate of nationality and integrity from him. He maintains that he
is being vic- timized for having led a resistance movement against the
alleged high- handedness of the deputy commissioner. Wangchuk says
that it all started when he made a speech in a conference organ- ized
by District Industries Department (DID), Leh on youth and employment.
"It started from April 3, 2006 when dur- ing the speech I said that in
government jobs, from the chief secretary to an ordi- nary peon,
people live on tax payers money, apparently deputy commissioner was
offended by this comment," said Wangchuk. He added that he received an
angry telephone call from the Deputy Commissioner M.K.Diwedi that
evening. "I profusely apologized saying that I did not mean to offend
any profes- sion, I even send him an apology note, but on the very
next day, he sent an order no DC-(NGO) 06(704) dated 4-4-2006 to all
the NGO's including religious and charitable institutions asking them
to present monthly reports to the Deputy Commissioner's office,
failing which reports would be conducted on their reg- istered
offices," added the Ladakhi reformer. He stressed that immediately
after this; a network of Ladakhi NGO's called Ladakh Voluntary Network
(LVN) through a letter dated 30-05-2006 responded to the order of the
deputy commissioner. "All the NGO's uniform- ly decided to submit
their accounts of last three years to the chairman of Ladakh
Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Chhering Dorje; the same
was stated in the letter addressed to Deputy Commissioner," added
Wangchuk.
He maintained that Deputy Commissioner M.K.Diwedi responded by
victimizing the signatory of the letter addressed to him, Padma Tashi.
He stated that Tashi received an order no. DC(NGO) 06(704) dated
25-72006 regarding the withdrawal of the non-political certificate
issued to his NGO named "Rural Development and You".
"The order stated that his organization has been blacklisted and
security agencies were asked to keep a close watch on the activities
of the said NGO with strict orders to prevent Padma Tashi from holding
any public activity," said Sonam Wangchuk. Thereafter, the social
activist says that Deputy Commissioner finding him vocal among all the
other members of the NGO's started specifically targeting SECMOL from
February 28, 2006.
"Deputy Commissioner in a written communication no.DCL/NGO/06(704),
dated 28.02-2006 leveled unbelievable allegations against me which
included unnecessary interference in the education department, being
in possession of 200 kanals of illegally occupied land for which i was
asked to pay Rs.80 lakhs to the state government apart from being
accused of having anti-national links with China and some other
countries bordering Ladakh," added the Ladakhi reformist.
He added that a copy of this letter was sent to Senior Superintendent
of police (SSP) Ladakh for necessary action. He maintains that he
replied to all these allegations leveled against him, but the Deputy
Commissioner kept on harassing him.
He further said that in view of the fact that his work has been
appreciated and acclaimed at the national and international level,
branding him as anti-national is unfortunate. The CD through which he
has justified his stand has been banned by the administration in
Ladakh. He stated that police and district administration is making
all the possible efforts to somehow send him behind the bars.
Wangchuk said that he is being labeled as anti-national by
administration, while the fact is that he was one of the members who
drafted vision document for the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development
Council apart from having received various prizes at the national and
international level. The Week (India's version of Time) named SECMOL
founder, Sonam Wangchuk, Man of the Year in 2001.
It is important to mention here that Sonam Wangchuk is the Founder
Director of the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh
(SECMOL). Founded in 1988 by a group of students who had themselves
been 'victims' of the alien education system foisted on Ladakh and its
people, SECMOL strives to rebuild the lost pride and self-confidence
of the Ladakhi people through its educational reforms Programme called
'Operation New Hope'.
He maintained that Deputy Commissioner M.K.Diwedi responded by
victimizing the signatory of the letter addressed to him, Padma Tashi.
He stated that Tashi received an order no. DC- (NGO) 06(704) dated
25-7- 2006 regarding the with- drawal of the non-political certificate
issued to his NGO named "Rural Development and You". "The order stated
that his organization has been black- listed and security agencies
were asked to keep a close watch on the activities of the said NGO
with strict orders to prevent Padma Tashi from holding any public
activity," said Sonam Wangchuk. Thereafter, the social activist says
that Deputy Commissioner finding him vocal among all the other members
of the NGO's start- ed specifically targeting SECMOL from February 28,
2006. "Deputy Commissioner in a written communication no.DCL/NGO/
06(704), dated 28.02-2006 leveled unbeliev- able allegations against
me which included unnecessary interference in the education
department, being in posses- sion of 200 kanals of illegal- ly
occupied land for which i was asked to pay Rs.80 lakhs to the state
government apart from being accused of having anti-national links with
China and some other coun- tries bordering Ladakh," added the Ladakhi
reformist. He added that a copy of this letter was sent to Senior
Superintendent of police (SSP) Ladakh for necessary action. He
maintains that he replied to all these allega- tions leveled against
him, but the Deputy Commissioner kept on harassing him. He further
said that in view of the fact that his work has been appreciated and
acclaimed at the national and international level, branding him as
anti-national is unfor- tunate. The CD through which he has justified
his stand has been banned by the administration in Ladakh. He stated
that police and district administration is making all the possible
efforts to some- how send him behind the bars. Wangchuk said that he
is being labeled as anti-national by administration, while the fact is
that he was one of the members who drafted vision document for the
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council apart from having received
various prizes at the national and international level. The Week
(India's version of Time) named SECMOL founder, Sonam Wangchuk, Man of
the Year in 2001. It is important to mention here that Sonam Wangchuk
is the Founder Director of the Students' Educational and Cultural
Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL). Founded in 1988 by a group of students
who had them- selves been 'victims' of the alien education system
foist- ed on Ladakh and its people, SECMOL strives to rebuild the lost
pride and self-confi- dence of the Ladakhi people through its
educational reforms Programme called 'Operation New Hope'.