Ladakh Council Job No 1: toilets that flush

Deputy Home Minister L.K. Advani had promised funds for the waste disposal project when he travelled to Leh this year to inaugurate the annual Sindhu Darshan cultural festival. But the council’s headache is finding a technology that makes flush toilets work in the sub-zero conditions in Ladakh.

After the UD ministry officials reportedly threw up their hands, Chewwang is casting his net wider. ‘‘We are trying to find out if some developed country can help us,’’ Chewwang, who now enjoys the status of a Cabinet minister, told The Indian Express. ‘‘We will seek help from Canada or equally cold countries where such flush systems are said to be functioning.’’

Conservation organisations like INTACH are said to have advised against mindlessly tampering with the age-old waste disposal system and the traditional mud-block-and-wood architecture in the name of modernisation.

But Chewwang wants to make a clean break with the past. ‘‘It’s the ardent desire of Ladakhis to see their towns in sync with the rest of the world,’’ he said. ‘‘A modern disposal system will also promote tourism.’’