Brigadier (Retd) B D Mishra on Sunday was sworn-in as the second Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Ladakh, replacing former IAS officer Radha Krishna Mathur. The President of India appointed the 83-year-old Mishra as the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh after accepting the resignation of Mathur on February 12.
Radha Krishna Mathur remained Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh for 27 months after Union Territory status was granted to the mountainous region.
Brig Mishra, a former governor of Arunachal Pradesh, was administered oath by the Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Justice N Kotishwar Singh at a function organized at the Raj Niwas Leh.
Advisor Umang Narula read out the warrant of appointment of Mishra as the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh.
The oath ceremony was attended by Lok Sabha member from Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, chief executive councilors of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development councils, Tashi Gyalson (Leh) and Feroz Khan (Kargil), all administrative secretaries and other dignitaries including senior officers of police, Army and paramilitary forces.
Later, Mishra was accorded the guard of honour by the Ladakh police.
After an illustrious career spanning more than 33 years, Mishra retired from the Army on July 31, 1995, and took over as the governor of Arunachal Pradesh on October 3, 2017.
He was the commander of the NSG counter-hijack task force and received the Prime Minister's appreciation for his role in ending the hijack crisis at the Raja Sansi Airfield in Amritsar on April 24, 1993, by eliminating the hijackers and safely rescuing all 124 passengers and crew members.
Likely to engage agitating groups in dialogue
As reported earlier, the biggest task before the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Brig B.D. Mishra is to deal with the ongoing agitation in the cold desert.
After holding a dharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on February 15, the agitating Ladakh groups have already announced to wait for Union Government's response.
The appointment of a new Lieutenant Governor and the decision of agitating groups not to announce the new calendar of agitation has revived hope of revival of the dialogue process.
Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) have been spreading an agitation for demands of the people of Ladakh.
The shifting of Radha Krishna Mathur as Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh amid ongoing agitation is a clear indication that the Union Government is very serious to solve the issues of Ladakh by pacifying erring groups.
Sources said that the Ladakh administration has failed to engage the agitating groups in the dialogue process and it was due to the failure of the UT administration that ongoing agitation has intensified.
