Sankoo is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the Kargil district of the union territory of

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The township is 42 km away towards south from

Kargil Kargil ( lbj, ) is a city and a joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, India. It is also the headquarters of the Kargil district. It is the second-largest city in Ladakh after Leh. Kargil is located to the east of Srinagar in Jam ...

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. Sankoo is located in a bowl-shaped valley drained by large tributary streams of the Suru River, and the Nakpochu river. As the richest flourishing and most verdant valley throughout the entire region of

, the village of Sankoo Valley is known as the Ladakh's own

Gulmarg Gulmarg (), known as Gulmarag (; ) in Kashmiri, is a town, hill station, popular skiing destination, and notified area committee in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is located at a distance of from Baramulla and from S ...

("meadow of flowers"). It is located in the Sankoo

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administ ...

Administration

For the large population, there is only one CHC hospital and One Higher secondary school (Aga Syed Haider Rizvi Memorial Higher Secondary School). Some of the famous Villages of Sankoo are Sangra, Stakpa,

Umba Umba may refer to *Umba, Russia, an urban-type settlement in Murmansk Oblast, Russia *Umba (White Sea), a river on the Kola Peninsula, Russia *Umba River (Tanzania), a river in Tanzania *Umba sapphire, a sapphire from Tanzania *Umba Valley, a valley ...

, Lankarchay, Thasgam, Barso, Farona and Nagma Kousar.

Demand for new district

In February 2020, organised by various youth, religious and several political parties, nearly 3,000 people protested for the creation of a new 14,000 sq-km Muslim majority district of Sankoo out of Kargil because it remains cut off from the Kargil and rest of India during winter snowfall.3,000 Demonstrate for Separate District in Sub-Zero Temperatures at Kargil
The Wire, 06/FEB/2020. It had 40,000 or more than 25% population of Kargil district in 2011.

Climate

Summers are mild warm in Sankoo but the winters are extremely cold and harsh. Temperatures are most comfortable in April and September, so this is the best time to visit Sankoo. As a result of Global. warming, the climatic mood of this beautiful hamlet is significantly impacted . The most widely reported impact is the rapid reduction in glaciers, which has profound future implications for downstream water resources. some of the famous but under threat glaciers are the " Nangma Serpo glacier" " Batacho glacier" " Umba Glacier" and " Gangshanmo". These glaciers are shrinking drastically Unfortunately, the study of these glaciers has yet to be done by the government to take a look

Geography

Sankoo is a developing township with a small bazaar (42 km south of Kargil) and numerous villages around. Dense plantations of poplars, willows, myricaria and wild roses fill the bowl-shaped valley, giving it the ambience of a man-made forest tucked within the mountain ramparts. Two side valleys drained by large tributary streams of the Suru river, the Kartse flowing from the east and the Nakpochu descending from the west, open up on either side of the expanse. Sankoo (42 km), the next major expanse of the Suru Valley, is a picturesque township surrounded with numerous villages and colourful rocky mountains all around.

Tourism

Sankoo is very popular among local picnickers who throng the area from Kargil town and other places. Locally it is also popular as a place of pilgrimage to the ancient shrine of a Muslim scholar-saint, Sayed Mir Hashim, who was specially invited from Kashmir for imparting religious teachings of the region's Buddhist ruler, Thi-Namgyal of the Suru principality, following his conversion to Islam during the `16th century. The shrine is situated in the village of Karpo-Kharon the outskirts of Sankoo where the Chief had his summer palace.Sankoo in Ladakh - Tourist Places, Leh Travel, Village Tour, Culture, Travel Attraction, Trekking, Mountaineering, Tourist Information Centre India
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References