Nasir Azam
Srinagar, May 11: Amid COVID-19 scare, the civil secretariat and other Durbar Move offices reopened in Jammu & Kashmir summer capital Srinagar on Tuesday after a gap of six months.
The civil secretariat, which houses offices of J&K’s top bureaucrats, reopened here, even as it will also function from Jammu for the duration of the deferment of Durbar Move.
As already reported, J&K administration has decided to defer the bi-annual practice of Durbar move due to upsurge in COVID-19 cases in the UT.
According to the arrangement worked out by the administration, the civil secretariat will remain functional from both the capitals while as administrative secretaries will rotate between the two places as per the roster notified by the General Administration Department.
As many as 62 offices of head of departments, which move in full/ in camp, will primarily function from Srinagar while 73 will work from Jammu.
Apart from this, 13 offices will also have civil secretariat-like arrangement for the period of deferment of Durbar move.
In 2020, the administration had also deferred the practice of Durbar move in view of the extraordinary circumstances arising due to COVID-19.
The biannual practice of Durbar Move was started by Dogra ruler Ranbir Singh in 1872 to “escape the extreme weather of Kashmir in winters and to give a fillip to economy of Jammu”
The practice of Darbar Move has come under question from different quarters, with several elected heads of J&K voicing support for abandoning the practice, but none could do much about it given the sensitivity of the issue.
In 1987, Farooq Abdullah-led government came up with the idea of abandoning the practice and set-up a committee to look into the matter. In its report titled “Durbar Move: The Reality”, the committee pointed out that the exercise wastes nearly six to eight weeks of precious official time in packaging, moving and then settling down to work.
In 2012, Omar Abdullah termed the practice as a wastage of money and an escapist move.
