Srinagar
The ‘Darbar’ move offices of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory after it came into existence on October 31, reopened in Jammu on Monday with traditional fanfare and ceremonial rituals.
The first Lieutenant Governor Girish Chander Murmu was given the red carpet welcome and he inspected the ‘guard of honour’.
Murmu later assumed his office at the Civil Secretariat.
Meanwhile, for the first time, folk dancers from Kud, also presented the cultural items attired in the traditional dress carrying drums and bugles outside the Secretariat to welcome the opening of Darbar offices in the Union Territory marking it as celebration.
Tight security arrangements were made in and around the Civil Secretariat venue and the road adjoining has also been closed for next six months till the Darbar remains in Jammu as preventive measure.
Moreover, no protest, rally or any march was taken out on the opening day of the Darbar Move offices.
Around 10,000 employees and truckloads of the office records undergo the bi-annual move exercise as part of more than a century-old practice.
The trend of shifting State secretariat from one state capital to another has been going on in the state since 1872, the era of Maharaja Gulab Singh and devours crore of rupees from state exchequer every year.
The practice of shifting the capital city from Srinagar to Jammu during winters and vice versa was started by Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1872 to escape the extreme weather conditions of the twin capital cities.
The practice costs the state exchequer an estimated Rs 20 crore every year.(UNI)
