Under pressure from Centre, LG to take call on Durbar move

Jammu Tawi, June 7: Lt Governor GC Murmu will take a call on the shifting of darbar move to Srinagar, the summer capital, on Monday and decide whether the bi-annual shifting of the seat of the government is feasible keeping in view the extra-ordinary increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the province.

This time, the Darbar move was deferred to June 15 for review as per the decision taken by the UT government in April because of an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases in Kashmir. However, the Civil Secretariat was opened in Srinagar, without official records, in the first week of May to keep the tradition alive, at least symbolically with virtually no work by the local employees and many officers who were relieved from Jammu on scheduled Darbar move date.

For the first time in the history of Darbar move tradition of J&K Government, the officers and employees were given a choice to work on “as is where is basis”.

Sources said that there has been reasonable pressure from the Union Ministry of Home to affect the shifting of seat of the government to Srinagar as per the tradition and expectation of the people of Kashmir. The centre feels that by making the top brass of Administration and the Lt Governor move at Srinagar would have a positive effect on the initiation of the proposed political process in Kashmir for which government has released most of the political leaders from the detention.

Reports from the corridor of civil secretariat suggest that some difference of opinions persisted between the LG Mr. GC Murmu and the Chief Secretary, BVRS on the issue as the later opined to defer the Darbar Move for the time being.  

Besides pressure and compulsions, the review will also take the alarming Covid situation against the backdrop of the ongoing pandemic in the Valley, where all 10 districts have been declared red zones. It will also take into account the willingness of the employees, who were reluctant to move to Srinagar because of the spread of the virus in Kashmir.

But this call also became imperative in view of the local political leaders who, the sources said, pressing for the early shifting of offices to be available to the people who needed immediate attention of the government since many problems in the Valley that the stakeholders needed direct access to the Administration.