Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and several others from Ladakh who were detained by Delhi police and released on Wednesday evening submitted a memorandum to the Centre listing their demands including statehood and protection of the fragile Himalayan ecosystem.
The group has been assured by the Ministry of Home Affairs of a meeting with India’s top leadership, said Wangchuk in a post on X.
The climate activist was detained and kept at Bawana police station while other ‘padyatris’ were kept at three other police stations at the Delhi-Haryana border.
All were escorted by police personnel in buses till Rajghat at about 9:30 pm and later, they were allowed to go.
The memorandum submitted by the ‘padyatris’ to the government of India demanded to resume talks over Ladakh’s statehood within 15 days.
“Apart from solving immediate problems of the people of Ladakh, local democracy will give the responsibility of stewardship of the fragile ecology of this sensitive trans-Himalayan region to the indigenous tribal people who have been living there in harmony with nature for millennia and will be affected for generations if mistakes are made in this sensitive region,” the memorandum stated.
The padyatris also urged the government to reconsider India’s target for Carbon Neutrality from 2070 to a more urgent timeframe.
Appreciating initiatives like Mission Life by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the memorandum urged the government to promote it more effectively. “Reducing on the demand side is the only way to reduce on the supply side to save damage to nature, either by governments or corporate world over,” it stated.
Wangchuk was leading the ‘Delhi Chalo Padyatra’ from Leh a month ago demanding safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution for the Union Territory among other things. Around 170 people who were part of the march were detained on Monday night at Delhi’s Singhu border and were taken to different police stations where they went on a hunger strike.
On Wednesday evening, they paid their tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary at Rajghat after which Wangchuk said that they had been released from detention and ended their fast.
According to a PTI report quoting police sources, Wangchuk is likely to stay in Delhi for a few days to seek a meeting with the government.
