Chidambaram visits Leh town

SRINAGAR - Home Minister P. Chidambaram — beginning his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir — visited Leh town of Ladakh region Saturday to review the progress of rehabilitation work after the August cloudburst tragedy in which over 200 people were killed.

Scores of families were left homeless as a series of cloudbursts devastated Choglamsar and other villages adjoining Leh town.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who visited Leh after the tragedy, had assured the locals that he would revisit the town before winter this year to take stock of the massive relief and rehabilitation work started by the state government with the assistance of the central government.

“All of you would have a roof over your heads before the ensuing winter,” Singh had assured the people.

As the prime minister was on a three-nation Asian tour, the home minister had been asked to visit the town and take stock of the situation.

After landing at the town, Chidambaram held a meeting with senior officials and those directly involved in the rehabilitation process.

He also interacted with officers and jawans of the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in Leh.

After a night halt in Leh, the home minister will visit the border town of Kargil in Ladakh region Sunday and later visit Srinagar.

Sources here said Chidambaram will attend a meeting of the unified headquarters in the summer capital Sunday to review the security situation in the state.

“He is also likely to make some announcements which will help defuse the present volatile situation in the Kashmir Valley,” the source said.

The home ministers visit to the state assumes significance as it comes in the wake of the visit of three interlocutors nominated to address the political problem in Jammu and Kashmir.

The home minister will visit north Kashmir’s Baramulla town but the focus of his visit would be taking stock of the security situation and interacting with senior officers of the paramilitary forces and the local police.

Chidambaram will fly to winter capital Jammu Sunday afternoon to conclude his two-day visit to the state.