Srinagar: Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of the first model border village at Chumur, located at an altitude of 16,700 feet on the India-China border.Officials said the project, the first of its kind in the region, will focus on infrastructure development, employment and livelihood generation, all-weather connectivity and comprehensive civil-defense integration. The initiative aims to facilitate the transition from a largely nomadic lifestyle to secure and permanent settlement in remote frontier areas.Chumur has 24 households with a population of 91 people, all of whom are engaged in goat rearing and its production for pashmina.Under the programme, families in these villages will be provided with climate-resilient, south-facing passive solar houses, designed to maximize solar heat gains and protect them from harsh winters when temperatures drop to -35 degrees, a statement from the Ladakh government said.Each household will receive a residential unit with an attached bathroom, an additional room suitable for homestay activities, kitchen garden space, livestock shed and dedicated fodder storage facilities. Depending on weather conditions, these houses are expected to be completed by September this year.To strengthen food security and livelihoods, a 90 x 27 feet commercial greenhouse will be set up in collaboration with the Defense Institute of High-Altitude Research (DIHAR) for year-round vegetable cultivation, officials said. He said the product will meet local needs and supply to nearby defense establishments, including the Army and ITBP, thereby creating a sustainable market for villagers, as well as promoting stronger civil-defence cooperation. “A central service core comprising a school, primary health center (PHC), community hall, park, community café and tourist interpretation center (TIC) will provide essential services and strengthen social and economic life in the village,” he said.A total of 10 such border villages will be developed in the first phase of the Vibrant Village Programme.Addressing the people on the occasion, Saxena said, “Due to its strategic location on the India-China border, Chumur has been selected as the first model border village of Ladakh under the Vibrant Village Programme, a dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has consistently emphasized that border villages are not the “last villages” but the “first villages” of India.