Around 450 officers with attached paraphernalia called to Jammu to run the show!
Jammu Tawi, Nov 8: Four months after formally announcing the discontinuance of
the 149-year-old biannual tradition of shifting capitals between Srinagar
and Jammu, the initial teething problems of the intended system has
not been yet over as the J&K Administration has now started modifying its
earlier orders to deal with the practical problems in case the Darbar
Move is completely switched over to the new regime.
On Friday, General Administration Department (GAD) had modified its
earlier order and restored the accommodation for its move employees at
Jammu.
Pertinently, in June this year, the administration had cancelled the
2159 residential accommodations allotted to the Darbar Move employees,
(1696 at Jammu allotted and retained by the employees from Kashmir and
493 dwelling units at Srinagar allotted and retained by the employees
from Jammu), as part of ending the age-old practice. However, after
most of the government accommodations were vacated, the Estate
Department undertook renovations and furnishing of all the
accommodations at a very large scale, incurring a huge amount of public exchequer.
However, the government has issued a fresh order in which sanction has been accorded to partial modification of the order under number 113-Est of 2021 dated 29-06-2021 and restoration of government accommodation at Jammu.
“Consequent upon the order issued by the General Administration Department vide Government order No. 1133-JK(GAD) of 2021 dated 25.10.2021, 1156 & 1157-JK(GAD) of 2021 dated 28.10.2021, the sanction is hereby accorded to the partial modification of Government Order No. 113-Est of 2021 dated 29.06.2021 and restoration of government
accommodation at Jammu in favour of all these government employees
which were earlier allotted to them by the Estates Department.
The J&K Police Headquarter has hired 19 Hotels in Jammu city to
accommodate 364 police personnel who were on duties with the senior
civil and police officials in Darbar Move, in its order dated November
05.
According to the standing practice and tradition of Darbar Move, the
office of Governor of the erstwhile state now Lieutenant Governor of
J&K Union Territory will now work from Jammu for the next six months
and for the smooth functioning of the civil secretariat and other
government works, many officers have also been called from Srinagar to
Jammu leaving a few opted for Srinagar.
“For smooth functioning civil secretariat and Raj Bhawan, around four
hundred and fifty (450) officers working from Srinagar have been
directed by the government to join their duties at Jammu civil
secretariat,” sources informed the Northlines while wishing not to be
named.
In Darbar Move done in May 2021, almost all the officers and a large
number of employees in the personal sections of the top bureaucrats
and some specialised hands were moved to Srinagar to keep the show
running. The source claimed that this has also been done by the
administration to give a message that there is no disparity/
discrimination between Jammu and Kashmir, they said.
“Majority of the officers who have been directed to join their duties
at Jammu are the gazetted officers,” sources said adding, “Many
officers have also joined their duties at Jammu”.
The 149-year-old practice of darbar move was stopped by the Lieutenant
Governor Manoj Sinha in June this year. On June 20, the LG had announced that the Jammu and Kashmir administration has completely transitioned to e-office, thereby ending the practice of the biannual darbar move.
“Now both the Jammu and Srinagar secretariats can function normally
for 12 months. This will save the government Rs 200 crore per year,
which will be used for the welfare of the deprived sections,” he
claimed.
Now the pertinent question arises – What else is the Darbar Move?
