ITANAGAR, Sep 11: Chief Minister Pema Khandu, currently touring his home constituency Mukto in Tawang district, trekked a distance of 24 kms for 11 hours to meet the people of a remote village.
The 41-year-old chief minister walked through mountain terrains and forests to reach Luguthang village, 97 kms from Tawang.
“It was an arduous journey while crossing Karpu La (16,000 ft) to Luguthang (14,500 ft),” Khandu tweeted after returning to Tawang on Thursday.
The village, located at a height of 14,500 feet above sea level, in Thingbu tehsil of Tawang district, has a population of 50 people who live in 10 houses.
“Had a review meeting with Luguthang villagers to ensure that benefits of every flagship programme reaches the last man standing in forward areas,” the chief minister tweeted.
The journey to the village, which is inaccessible by road, is a mesmerizing one as one has to cross the eye-catching Karpu La mountain and several natural lakes that fall on the route.
The chief minister, along with Tawang MLA Tsering Tashi and villagers and monks of the Tawang monastery, attended the consecration of Jangchup stupa the next day.
The stupa has been erected in the name of Khandu’s father and former chief minister Dorjee Khandu who died in a helicopter crash near Luguthang village while returning from Tawang to Itanagar on 30 April, 2011.
“The chief minister spent two nights at the house of a villager before trekking back,” sources in Tawang said.
Luguthang is mostly inhabited by Brokpas, a nomadic yak-herding tribe. They spend the summer months around the higher Himalayas in search of grazing grounds for their yaks and come down to the lower areas in harsh winter. (PTI)
