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Activist Sonam Wangchuk, who is holding a padyatra from Leh to Delhi, said on Saturday that they are on a mission to remind the government to fulfil the promise it made five years ago.
Wangchuk, along with other 'padyatris', reached Himachal Pradesh and said that they received immense support in all the villages and valleys. "As soon as we entered Himachal Pradesh, we received immense support in all the villages and valleys. We aim to take the message of conservation of the Himalayas to everyone. People are coming together with us and we have received immense support from the government as well, be it medical support and security... When we set off from Ladakh, there were 100 of us, but the elderly faced some trouble on the high passes so they stayed back and 75 of us reached here. With people coming along, our group has grown to 150-200," Wangchuk said. "We are on a mission to remind the government to fulfil the promise it made to us 5 years ago," he added. He further asserted that their second aim is to remind the people about the importance of the upper Himalayas, which are home to glaciers that provide water to all of North India. "The Himalayas, and especially the upper Himalayas, are home to glaciers that provide water to all of North India and if these glaciers are lost, everyone will face a water shortage. Our second aim is to make the people aware of this," he said. Wangchuk has been demanding statehood and inclusion under the 6th Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which grants special rights to tribal communities, and stronger ecological protections for Ladakh. Earlier, Sonam Wangchuk ended in Leh his nine-day fast, that he had initiated to to draw the attention of the authorities to the importance of safeguarding Ladakh's fragile mountain ecology and indigenous people. After the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, Jammu and Kashmir was split into two Union Territories--Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh. (ANI)
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