Srinagar: The pre-independence practice of
'Darbar Move', the annual shifting of Jammu and Kashmir's
Civil Secretariat from Jammu to Srinagar, on Sunday began with
valley based employees and advance parties arriving here.
The Civil Secretariat closed in Jammu on April 29 and
will reopen here on May 9. It will close here in late October
and reopen in Jammu in the first week of November.
However, the practice started by Maharaja Gulab Singh
in 1872 to take escape extreme weather conditions in Jammu and
Srinagar, is proving costly for the state exchequer as it has
to spend crores of rupees twice a year to shift the massive
workforce and voluminous records between the twin capitals of
the state.
There have been demands for putting an end to this
practice of shifting offices but allegations of regional
discrimination, both from the valley and Jammu, have prevented
successive governments from even giving a thought to it.
The practice has come as an additional perk for the
employees who work in the Move offices as, besides getting an
extra two weeks of holidays on account of shifting of the
records every year, they also get a five figure sum as
allowances.
Hundreds of buses and trucks from State Road Transport
Corporation have been pressed into service for shifting the
5,000-odd employees and truck loads of records from Jammu to
Srinagar.
The moving of the offices have often been blamed for
poor performance of the government machinery, especially in
development and administrative works.
"Most of the time the senior bureaucrats and officers
have to shuttle between Jammu and Srinagar for attending
meetings or some times to their personal cases like promotion
and transfers. This affects their office work badly," retired
official, GM Parray, said.
Parray said with latest technology available, this
practice should now come to an end and the meetings should be
held via video conferencing.
"Just one or two meetings chaired by the Chief
Minister over video conferencing have proven just symbolic.
This should become part of the administration," he said.
Besides the 5000 employees, the state government has
to provide accommodation to ministers, MLAs, their personnel
staff and in some cases journalists too.
The state government has to maintain two sets of
Raj Bhawans, Civil Secretariats, Chief Minister's official
residences, private offices for the CM, police headquarters,
etc.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, May 01, 2011, 16:16