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This report, Leh Vision 2030, is a significant milestone in a process that was started in 2017-18 by the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh. The Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) that was formed to create a coherent, inclusive and actionable Vision for Leh’s future, held extensive consultations with the people of Leh and took help of local and international experts over a period of two years, to create this report and roadmap. This Vision, first and foremost, represents the aspirations and desires of the people of Leh, considering their material comforts, as well as social, emotional and spiritual needs. Diverse voices participated in public discussions, which helped shape the strategies and actions recommended herein.

A key objective is to balance the short-term needs and long-term priorities from the perspective of environmental sustainability and mitigating natural risks. Given its unique history, culture and location, Leh needs a unique vision and development plan. Perhaps most importantly, the vision and goals set herein must be actionable and achievable. This consideration has been central to identifying the actions that can be taken to achieve the strategies. This Vision is developed as a living guide to help make and act on decisions. By identifying Strategies, Actions and the role of key stakeholders, it starts to create a roadmap but this now must be detailed further and acted upon. Everyone has to play a role in fulfilling this Vision, which has been developed by the people of Leh, for the people of Leh.

This report, Leh Vision 2030, is a significant milestone in a process that was started in 2017-18 by the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh. On 7th August 2018, this initiative was formalised through a Government Order, constituting an eightmember Special Committee headed by Mr C Phunsog, IAS (retired) to develop a strategic plan for the town of Leh. The Special Committee, supported by experts from various fields related to urban planning and urban management, was given the mandate to understand the nature of problems with development in Leh and accordingly, identify and frame planning strategies and approaches suitable to the unique and distinctive climatic, physiographic and sociocultural conditions of the mountain town.

At the outset, the Special Committee acknowledged that the last decade has seen a vigorous programme of development in Leh, which has brought rapid transformations in its economic, physical, socio-cultural, and environmental spheres—and not all for the better. Due to lack of planning or any overarching strategy, the result was unorganised and haphazard physical growth—hotels and guesthouses mushrooming all over town, deterioration of natural resources like water bodies, greater air and water pollution, and congestion—which have brought Leh to a point where urgent action is required to prevent irreparable harm to the town and its ecology. Uncontrolled development simply must be stopped and a clear vision and plan is required to determine how.

After going through various meetings, discussions, trainings and exercises in its first few months, the Special Committee prepared a report titled “Planning Leh’s Future: The Case for a Strategic Plan to ensure Economic Growth, Sustainability, Resilience and Higher Quality of Life.”

This report highlighted the various forms of transformations in Leh, studied the causes and impacts of these transformations, and discussed and evaluated various planning processes that are typically carried out for managing urban development. It recommended a comprehensive and participatory Strategic Planning Process as the approach to be adopted for planning the future of Leh. To guide this planning process, the report recommended forming a formal Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) with three groups of members:

1. Governing Members who will oversee all the work and outputs of the committee 2. Working Group Members: Eminent individuals from various fields who are active in Leh, who can provide relevant inputs 3. A Secretariat with administrators who will coordinate the work between Governing

Members, Working Committee Members, external advisors and citizens and other stakeholders

The SPC is chaired by Padmashri C Phunsog, IAS (Retd.), Vice-Chancellor, University of Ladakh and Former Chief Secretary of J&K and its members, who include key government officials, business leaders and representatives of various local organisations:

Mr C Phunsog, (Retd. IAS), VC, University of Ladakh; Mr Tsering Sangdup, Deputy CEC, LAHDC, Leh; Dr Ishey Namgyal, President, Municipal Committee Leh; Dr Zahida Bano, ADC, District Administration, Leh; Mr Rigzin Spalgon, ACR, District Administration, Leh; Mr Sonam Chosjor, CEO, Leh Development Authority; Mr Deleks Namgyal, General Secretary, ALTOA; Mr Stanzin Norboo, Joint Secretary, ALTOA.

It may be noted that after the SPC was constituted, the Government of India designated the region of Ladakh as a Union Territory. There have been some changes in the administrative arrangements as a result and these have been incorporated into the vision for Leh.

vIsIonIng and the stRategIc plannIng pRocess

The Strategic Planning Committee conducted meetings with citizens, local businesses, religious groups and other stakeholders, and experts in urban development, water and sanitation, education, healthcare, heritage conservation, environmental protection, economic development and transportation, and collected relevant data to compile this Vision. This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the situation and issues in Leh, and frames strategies and courses of action for the future. It is intended to be both the basis for discussion and debate amongst the various stakeholders in Leh, as well as a guide for future priorities and projects. The next step is to develop detailed project proposals to implement the recommended Actions. Relevant government departments and agencies have to take the lead in this phase. One important aspect is the boundary of the territory that must be considered while developing the detailed projects and actions. While the current consideration is the boundaries served by the Municipal Committee of Leh, there is an argument for expanding this boundary to include nearby areas that are, for all practical purposes, integrated into the economic and cultural fabric of Leh town. Planning for the metropolitan area holds benefits of ensuring consistent services, byelaws and management systems, leading to a seamless living and working experience for residents.

The Strategic Planning Process is not a onetime activity. Rather, it is an on-going process of understanding the wishes and aspirations of the people of Leh, setting and adjusting goals, developing a path to reach those goals, constantly monitoring projects and initiatives, and taking corrective action as needed to ensure the goals are met. This document starts with an introduction to Leh and the region of Ladakh in Chapter II. Chapter III examines liveability in Leh based on recent studies and also explores how liveability indices can be supplemented with measurements of happiness. Chapter IV sets out the philosophical underpinning of this Vision – the desire of the people it to make Leh a happy and compassionate town. The Vision for Leh 2030 is then organised under eight themes, each of which are divided into sections:

Theme 1: A Thriving and Resilient economy Theme 2: Mobility of people and goods Theme 3: Water, Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Theme 4: Social infrastructure

Theme 5: environment and Climate Change Theme 6: Heritage Conservation Theme 7: Spatial planning and Urban Design Theme 8: Urban governance

These themes are not compartmentalised but are interconnected and hence, some repetition of actions in multiple themes is unavoidable. For examples, the strategies in mobility and heritage conservation are reflected in spatial planning and urban design and some of the proposals related to tourism in the section on economy are related to heritage conservation, infrastructure and mobility. The planning process is iterative across the themes. Each theme includes the following sections: 1. Assessment (Where we are) 2. Vision 2030 (Where we want to go) 3. Strategies and Actions (How to get there) The strategies are broadly defined ways to achieve the Vision, and Actions are specific but need to be further detailed into projects for implementation. The roles of various stakeholders must also be refined during the next phase.