Leh District

Leh district is a district in the union territory of Ladakh, India. With an area of 45,110 ''km''^''2'', it is the second largest district in the country smaller only to Kutch. It is bounded on the north by Gilgit-Baltistan's Kharmang and Ghanche districts and Xinjiang's Kashgar Prefecture and Hotan Prefecture linked via the historic Karakoram Pass. It has Aksai Chin and Tibet are to the east, Kargil district to the west, and Lahul and Spiti to the south. The district headquarters is in Leh. It lies between 32 to 36 degree north latitude and 75 to 80 degree east longitude.

The whole of Ladakh was under the administration of Leh until 1 July 1979, when the Kargil and Leh administrative districts were created. Religion has been a source of grievances between Buddhists and Muslims since the late 20th century and was a contributor to this division.

In 2017, the district was declared a tobacco-free zone. The Directorate of Health Services Kashmir under the National Tobacco Control Programme began working towards the designation early in 2017 and the status was declared in August. Rehana Kousar (in-charge, NTCP, Kashmir) said that work was done with civil society, religious and women's groups and that a "major success was achieved by the involvement of women in the anti-tobacco campaign."

In August 2019, the Parliament of India passed an act that contained provisions to make Leh a district of the new union territory of Ladakh, which was formed 31 October 2019.

Administration

There are seven sub-divisions and twelve tehsils.
The sub-divisions are: Nubra, Durbuk (Durbok), Khalatse (Khaltsi/Khalsi), Leh, Kharoo, Likir, Sumoor, Turtuk, and Diskit, Durbuk, Khalatse, Saspol, Leh, Chuchot, Kharoo, Likir