Leh.
Chief Secretary of the Union Territory of Ladakh Ashish Kundra today chaired the third meeting of the Board of Governance of the Ladakh e-Governance Agency (LeGA), reviewing the agency’s ongoing initiatives, financial position, digital transformation projects, and future roadmap while stressing the need to build a robust, secure, and citizen-centric digital governance ecosystem across the Union Territory.
The meeting commenced with a comprehensive presentation by Secretary, Information Technology, Ms. Shashanka Ala, who presented an overview of LeGA, its key achievements, financial status, and agenda items placed before the Board of Governance. She apprised the Board about the LeGA corpus fund, committed liabilities, available balance, fund utilisation during the financial year 2026–27, grant-in-aid proposals, projects undertaken by the agency, and the proposed utilisation of funds during the current financial year. The presentation also covered the proposal for introducing inter-departmental cost recovery charges for hosting services at the Ladakh State Data Centre (LSDC).
Reviewing the proposals, the Chief Secretary emphasised the need to strengthen LeGA as the nodal agency for implementing Information Technology and e-Governance initiatives in Ladakh. He directed the IT Department to explore greater convergence of Central Sector Schemes (CSS) relating to Information Technology and ICT to augment resources and ensure sustainable funding for digital initiatives. He also advised that consultancy services, technical expertise, and project implementation should be channelled through LeGA to maximise institutional capacity and efficiency.
The Chief Secretary extensively reviewed the status of the Ladakh State Data Centre and underscored the importance of establishing a cloud-based Disaster Recovery (DR) system to ensure business continuity and data security. Stressing that cyber security and resilient digital infrastructure are essential components of modern governance, he directed the department to prepare a comprehensive proposal on Disaster Recovery and submit it to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under the Centre of Excellence framework.
Highlighting the importance of sustainable infrastructure, Kundra called for the development of a Green Data Centre powered by renewable energy, suggesting that Zanskar could be explored as a suitable location considering its climatic advantages. He further directed the department to study successful Green Data Centre models implemented in other States and Union Territories, examine prevailing technologies, and identify leading agencies involved in their development before finalising future plans.
The Chief Secretary also reviewed procurement processes related to IT infrastructure and advised the department to examine best practices adopted across the country while ensuring transparency and quality in tendering and project execution. The meeting subsequently reviewed the functioning of the Project Management Unit (PMU), where the Chief Secretary sought details regarding its organisational structure, manpower deployment, and operational responsibilities.
A detailed presentation was then made on various Digital Ladakh initiatives, showcasing several online platforms and citizen-centric digital services developed by the IT Department. These included the Tourism Portal, Brand Ladakh Portal, Aspirational Ladakh Portal, Employment Portal, Common Departmental Portal, proposed Pashmina e-Commerce Portal, WhatsApp-based citizen services, and other digital governance initiatives.
While reviewing the Tourism Portal, the Chief Secretary examined user registrations, district-wise participation, tourism service providers, homestay and hotel registrations, application statistics, approvals, and pending cases. He directed the department to incorporate comprehensive analytics and real-time dashboards to facilitate better monitoring and policy formulation.
Shri. Kundra emphasised that the Aspirational Ladakh Portal should integrate GIS-based spatial mapping covering all seven districts, enabling visualisation of district-wise developmental indicators, comparative rankings, and sectoral performance. He stressed that the portal should rely on real-time API-based data integration rather than manual data entry to ensure accuracy, reliability, and dynamic updates.
Reviewing the Employment Portal, Shri Kundra directed that recruitment-related information from all departments, particularly the Ladakh Subordinate Services Staff Selection Board (LSSSSB) and district administrations, should be integrated into a common platform to provide citizens with a single source of information on employment opportunities.
He also stressed the need to establish a single unified citizen portal integrating all Government-to-Citizen (G2C) services, online applications, payment gateways, procurement systems, and citizen service delivery mechanisms to improve accessibility and convenience.
Recognising the growing importance of digital communication, the Chief Secretary directed the department to develop a standardised WhatsApp-based communication framework for the Union Territory Administration. He advised leveraging telecom and mobile data, in collaboration with the Department of Information and Public Relations, to establish a common outreach platform capable of disseminating verified public information, advisories, and citizen-centric messages through a structured and centralised communication system. He also emphasised the need to standardise government databases and maintain a unified archival system for official communications.
The Chief Secretary appreciated the progress made by the Information Technology Department in advancing digital governance and reiterated that Ladakh’s digital transformation must be driven by innovation, secure digital infrastructure, real-time data integration, citizen convenience, and environmentally sustainable technology.
The meeting was attended by Secretary, Planning, Development and Monitoring, Himanshu Gupta; Secretary, Information Technology, Ms. Shashanka Ala; Senior Consultant, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Pankaj; Joint Director, Finance; and senior officers from the Information Technology Department, LeGA, and other concerned departments.
