MADAN KUMAR is fine tuning the work that he along with his associates have been doing over a fortnight to give a facelift to the civil secretariat, which is all set to hum with activity in the second week of November.
The estates department of the Jammu and Kashmir, which is charged with the upkeep of the civil secretiat - the seat of power in Jammu and Kashmir during six winter months in Jammu- is working overtime to have everything in place well before D-Day.
Jammu and Kashmir is the only state in the country having the distinction of the two capitals in Srinagar and Jammu.
The tradition of shifting State secretariat from one capital to the other dates back to 1872, the era of Maharaja Gulab Singh. Continuing with this 137 year old tradition, the stage is all set for the annual Darbar move. The offices will close in Srinagar on October 31 and will re-open in Jammu on November as per an order issued by the General Administration Department
This is the practice which started in the regal tenure of the Maharajas and has assumed highly sensitive and emotional proposition over the years which has rendered the administration helpless in abandoning with this practice. The reason being – ‘the political and psychological compulsions’.
Dispensing with the shifting of the offices during the summer and winter months, which in local parlance is known as ‘Darbar Move’ is next to impossible as during the premiership of Rajiv Gandhi, Jammu had attracted widespread resentment and agitation.
“How can Darbar move be stopped? Locating the state capital either at Jammu or Srinagar will tag on lot of inconvenience to the people of the other region, who will be deprived of seeking redressal of the problems from quite a distance,” says Ram Kumar, a local trade union activist who believes that the practice was started keeping in view the plights of the people of the Jammu and Kashmir divisions.
He also feels that the mechanism is important for the identity of the state of Jammu and Kashmir as a single administrative unit, there only there are others who believe that Darbar move has nothing positive as two vital months in a financial year are wasted while shifting of staff from one region to the other.
“This certainly puts extra burden on the state exchequer which is already grappling with resource crunch. It is commonly harsh truth that a major portion of the state budget is consumed in the shape of the wage bill of nearly 4 lakh employees leaving little to be utilized on the developmental projects”, says Daya Ram, an employee working in PHE department.
“Darbar move also unfolds numerous problems on the housing front. This practice forces the state administration to have residential units, one each at Jammu and Srinagar, for those employees, who shift to the respective capital on rotational basis,” he adds.
“Where hardly any day passes without protests, strikes and bandhs in the state, the city on a whole enthusiastically is preparing for the Annual Darbar move. This trend of Darbar move causes additional discomfort to residents, then why to continue with this undue obligation? ”, says Raghuvansh Katoch, a government employee.
“Where on one hand , the city enthusiastically is gearing up for the Annual Darbar move and the preparations are going in full swing , on the other hand the people are on roads every now and then in support of their demands which portrays a grimy picture”, he adds.
In the past few years, bandhs and strikes have become a common scene in Jammu. Whereas some of the strikes are credited to the political uncertainty in the state there only there are a good of other reasons too with the residents of Jammu which are adding to the number of such activities in the region.
“Now it is the time to stop this practice of Darbar move. It should be ended as this causes discomfort to residents. What is going in state? Presently the scenario is that every second day strikes by one department or the other make their appearance in news headlines. Is this the progress? Why these beautification and cleanliness drives only during Darbar Move, what do they do for rest of the year? What is the fun of spending millions of rupees every year on this practice even when the state witnesses blinking financial crunches? ”, says Ritesh Dogra, an unemployed engineer.
“There are a large number of unemployed people in the state, why not to generate new ventures for the unemployed youth in the state”, he articulates.
“Where the state is lacking progress in many fields, this practice of Darbar move, which now moreover has become a political necessity to keep intact the diverse identity of the state, is smoothly paving its way in the state as a ‘gratuitous compulsion’, ” says Ritesh.
