Unexploded shells to be cleared from Kargil in time-bound manner: Ladakh LG

Soon after a boy was killed when an unexploded shell went off in Kargil, Ladakh Lt Governor Brig B D Mishra (retd) said on Sunday all such shells would be cleared from the district in a time-bound manner.

Mishra gave the assurance to the people after they raised the issue of the presence of a large number of unexploded shells from the army firing range and 1999 Kargil war in Kurbathang and other areas posing threat to the local residents.

The whole area will be screened. An operation will be launched immediately to look for the unexploded shells and other dangerous ordnance which will be cleared in a time-bound manner, the LG told reporters at the Kargil hospital where he had gone to enquire about the condition of two boys injured in a blast in Kurbathang region.

A 13-year-old boy was killed and two others were injured when an unexploded shell went off at Kurbathang in Kargil district of Ladakh on Sunday, police said.

It is an unfortunate incident which claimed the life of a minor and injured two others. The clearance operation should have been done till now. I have asked the Army commander and the Army engineer to go to the scene so that a clearance operation could be launched immediately to avoid such incidents, Mishra said.

Meanwhile, the LG announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased boy and Rs 1 lakh each to the injured.

Earlier, Mishra attended the Apricot festival and said four things are imperative for boosting tourism.

Tourist attraction, connectivity, adequate infrastructure and security are the four important things and we are focusing on these to boost tourism as there is a lot of scope for tourism in Ladakh, he said.

Mishra said if the administration was able to expand the tourism circuit, it would boost the economy of the region.

Reiterating his pledge to make Ladakh "corruption and delay free", he said his administration is working on a strategy to ensure files be cleared without any delay.

We have set education and health as top priority and we are working on it, he said.