Ladakh, Jan 31, 2025 – Home Secretary Mr. Palden Dhondup undertook a four-day official tour of the Ladakh Sonamling Settlement from January 28 to January 31, 2025. The main Purpose his visit to Inagaurate Maque & Choshul housing project and meeting Youth and Public.
On the first day of his visit, Secretary Palden Dhondup was warmly welcomed at the Ladakh Settlement Office by the Chief Representative Officer (CRO), Local Justice Commissioner, Vice Chairman of the Local Tibetan Assembly, Tibetan Settlement Office staff, and other dignitaries. He visited all the office and held a meeting with the all the staff of Local Office his engaging with staff is short but meaningful interaction. During the meeting, the Secretary emphasized the importance of unity in overcoming challenges and maintaining the peace and stability of the exile Tibetan community, particularly in light of potential threats from the People’s Republic of China. Additionally, he introduced the Kashag’s vision and recent initiatives, including the creation of zone-based sections within the department to enhance efficiency and improve overall outcomes
On the second day, the Home Secretary officially inaugurated the construction of new houses for 27 underprivileged nomadic households in Maque and Chushul. This project, carried out under the department’s welfare initiatives, received 100% funding assistance from the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). During his address at the inauguration, Secretary Dhondup highlighted the importance of the Kashag’s Building a Back Compact Community through (BBCC) Project, which seeks to provide homes for homeless Tibetans.
The third day Secretary inaugurated a newly constructed petrol pump initiated by the Ladakh Cooperative Society. The project aims to enhance the income generation of the Cooperative Society and improve the livelihood of the Sonamling Tibetan Settlement. The inauguration ceremony was attended by local dignitaries and members of the Tibetan community.
ས་འཐུས་ཚོགས་ཁང་གསར་རྒྱག་ལས་འཆར།
ས་གནས་མཉམ་འབྲེལ་ལས་ཁུངས།
ས་གནས་འཕྲོད་བསྟེན་སྨནས་ཁང་།
ས་གནས་འཕྲོད་བསྟེན་སྨནས་ཁང་།
གཞོན་སྐྱེས་ཐུགས་འཕྲད་སྐབས་ཀྱི་འདྲ་པར།
On the final day of his visit, Secretary Dhondup met with the public and addressed a gathering, reaffirming the Central Tibetan Administration’s and the Home Department’s commitment to addressing the urgent needs of the community. He emphasized that while the CTA has supported numerous infrastructure projects in Ladakh over the years, it is now time to shift focus towards investing in the future generation, particularly the youth. Instead of prioritizing infrastructure development, he stressed the need to reshape the educational and vocational landscape for Tibetan youth.
In his address, Secretary Dhondup also underscored the importance of expressing gratitude to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the elder generation, acknowledging their dedication and efforts that have led to the progress seen today. Furthermore, he encouraged the younger generation to uphold the virtuous values of Tibetan culture and tradition, ensuring their continuity for future generations. The four-day visit concluded with a curtsey call to DSP of Ladakh UT.