KL Report
SRINAGAR
Over 100 vehicles are ferrying official record and staff to the Kashmir Valley during Darbar Move tomorrow. And to ensure the smooth ride, Highway has been thrown open for only Kashmir-bound vehicles for April 25, 26.
The Civil Secretariat and other offices are closing in Jammu today and will re-open in Srinagar on May 5.
Already, advance parties started moving to Srinagar from April 20 itself.
Iqbal Khanday, the Chief Secretary said sufficient number of cranes, mobile workshop, besides mobile medical teams and ambulances should be provided all along the Srinagar-Jammu Highway during these transit days.
Apart from civilian movement, govt said, military convoys too won’t be allowed to ply on Highway.
Notably, Darbar Move is the name given to the bi-annual exercise of shifting the secretariat and all other government offices from capital city to another.
It involves housing offices from May to October in state’s summer capital (Srinagar); and rest six months in its winter capital (Jammu).
The 143-year-old practice was started by Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1872 to escape the extreme weather conditions in Jammu during summers and in Srinagar during winters.
The practice continued after 1947, so that people from both Jammu region and Kashmir valley have equal access to seat of power during the year.
Darbar Move continues to be debatable one as economic and political commentators dub it as ‘burden on state’s exchequer’.
While some believe that trend was unavoidable, others believe that this practice has been one of the reasons that made state’s exchequer to grapple with resources.
