'Darbar' to move from Srinagar to Jammu on Oct 26

Srinagar, Oct 16 (UNI) The Civil Secretariat and other related offices will close here on October 26 to reopen in Jammu on November five for the biannual 'Darbar Move', a practice started in 1872 during Maharaja Ranbir Singh's rule.

The 'Darbar Move' practice between the two state capitals -- Srinagar for six summer months and Jammu for six winter months -- has turned out to be a costly affair. Every six months, the state government incurs several hundred crores of rupees in shifting the offices between the two capitals.

The state exchequer suffers heavy loss for maintaining the traditional system of shifting the government and other offices from Jammu to Srinagar and vice versa.

The Civil Secretariat, which houses the offices of the Chief Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and other top bureaucrats, is the nerve centre of official activities. Nearly 10,000 government officials and employees will move to Jammu for the next six months.

Adequate arrangements have been made for the 'Darbar Move' with sufficient number buses and trucks of the State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) kept available to transport employees and records to the winter capital Jammu.

A high-level meeting here informed that the SRTC would provide 25 buses for transporting the Jammu-based employees from Srinagar to Jammu on October 27 and 28 and 60 buses for the Kashmir-based employees on November 3 and 4.

Sufficient trucks would also be provided by the SRTC for carrying the records to Jammu for which the departments concerned have already submitted the requisitions.

In addition, one recovery van and a mobile workshop from the SRTC would accompany the 'Darbar Move' cavalcade on these days to ensure a smooth journey, the meeting was told.

The Health Department would provide medical facilities, including stand-by ambulances, at all the hospitals along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on all move days.

MORE UNI