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Kargil
The Indian Air Force's 'Kargil Courier' service airlifted over 3,000 stranded passengers during the closure of the 434-kilometre-long Srinagar-Leh National Highway this winter, an official said on Tuesday. The 'Kargil Courier' service started from January 18. In all, 3,228 passengers availed the services of the AN-32 and the IL-76 aircraft provided by the Indian Air Force for the residents of Ladakh, the official said. Among them, 39 passengers were airlifted from Jammu to Kargil in an AN-32 sortie on Tuesday, he said. While the AN-32 aircraft operated between Kargil and the twin capitals of Jammu and Srinagar, IL-76 sorties were arranged between Srinagar-Leh and Jammu-Leh for stranded passengers, the official said. In addition, several hundred stranded passengers were airlifted from Chandigarh to Leh in the IL-76 aircraft on the personal intervention of Ladakh Lt Governor Brig (Retd) BD Mishra, he added.
More than 13,500 households have been connected with functioning water taps under the centrally-sponsored Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Kargil district of Ladakh, an official spokesman said on Saturday. The information was given at a meeting chaired by Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kargil, Ghulam Mohi-Ud-Din Wani as he reviewed the progress on JJM projects in the district, the spokesman said. "Till January 2023, as many as 13,506 households have been connected with FHTCs in Kargil. In 2019, before the start of JJM, only 1,610 households in the district had tap water," the spokesman said. He said that in the meeting the officials reviewed the status of JJM scheme and discussed strategy for "improving Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) coverage, installation of solar water heaters in schools, 100 per cent saturation of villages, and availability of material." Wani also reviewed the physical and financial progress on all JJM projects in the district, and tap connection in .
A 4.3 magnitude earthquake hit Ladakh's Kargil district on Tuesday, the National Centre for Seismology said. There were no reports of casualties or damage to property. The epicentre of the tremor, recorded at 10.05 am, was 191 kilometers north of Kargil, the NCS said. The quake in the earthquake prone Himalayan region was at a latitude of 36.27 degrees north and longitude of 76.26 degrees east at a depth of 10 km, it said.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah has claimed that authorities in Union Territory of Ladakh tried to dissuade him from visiting Kargil. "They told me not come here. There (Eastern Ladakh) China has come in, you could not stop them, you could not send them back. We are only going from Srinagar to Kargil via Drass. We were not here to occupy the town," Omar told a gathering of his supporters in Drass on Monday. The National Conference leader alleged he was denied the permission to use a public address system and the Day Bungalow facility in Drass. "I have been a chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir for six years, but I fail to understand certain decisions made by them. At best, I would have only used the Dak Bungalow to freshen up," he added. Abdullah said the government had no confidence in its own decisions. "In August 2019, they separated you (Ladakh) from Jammu and Kashmir. If that was your heartfelt demand, why are they scared of allowing us in?" he asked. Hitting out at
On this day in 1999, India successfully took command of the high outposts that had been lost to Pakistan