Neither statehood nor a legislature was being considered for Ladakh, The Hindu quoted the Union territory’s Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra as saying on Thursday. The region is being offered a unique body that will have legislative, executive and financial powers, Kundra said.The bureaucrat said that the nomenclature of the proposed body had not been finalised and that discussions were underway.“An agreement has been reached with the [Ladakhi] leadership here, a sui generis model, which does not exist anywhere in the country, will be crafted for Ladakh, where a legislative body will be created,” he told The Hindu.However, the civil society groups leading the agitation seeking statehood for Ladakh said on Thursday that they were disappointed because the negotiations had not moved forward.In August 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the state into two Union territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.The lack of a legislature in Ladakh has stoked fears among the Ladakhi people about their land, natural resources and livelihoods. They also fear that the region’s cultural identity and fragile ecosystem are in danger.By 2022, the residents had four demands: statehood for Ladakh, constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil districts and the rollout of a recruitment process and a separate Public Service Commission for Ladakh.All of Ladakh currently has one Lok Sabha seat.The Sixth Schedule guarantees protection to land and a degree of autonomy for the country’s tribal areas.On Thursday, the chief secretary said that the proposal for an administrative body under Article 371 of the Constitution had been discussed with the Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance, The Hindu reported. The two civil society groups have led the protests demanding statehood for Ladakh.Article 371 deals with “temporary, transitional and special provisions” and allows decentralised governance, with a degree of administrative autonomy. It is applicable in 12 states including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.The members of the civil society groups had agreed to a system of “direct election through constituencies” for the proposed body, the official said.They have been given a list of questions to clarify doubts and to examine the details, including the distribution of powers between the proposed body and the existing hill councils, The Hindu quoted him as saying.The next round of talks will be held in October.Ladakh groups not satisfiedHowever, the Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance said that there had been no progress on their core demands, The Indian Express reported. They said that there was no clarity about the powers the elected body would have, particularly in the area of law and order.Activist Sonam Wangchuk said that the negotiations were cordial but had produced no substantive outcome, the newspaper reported.Following the “in-principle understanding” the two sides had reached on May 22, the groups had expected a draft proposal on the constitutional safeguards under Article 371 to be provided to them during the meeting on Wednesday, Wangchuk was quoted as having said.However, the meeting on Wednesday seemed to be “just a red herring” to distract Ladakh from the Leh to Kargil march that was to begin on Thursday, Wangchuk said on social media. “Trust is diminishing, distrust is growing unfortunately,” he added.The groups said that they were planning to hold a march from September 19 to September 24 if the Union government did not provide a concrete proposal within a week.Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.Also read: How Ladakh’s proposed elected governance body can safeguard the regionWhy five new districts in Ladakh have led to fears of exclusion, gerrymandering