Srinagar, Apr 15: The government on Thursday differed Darbar Move and ordered that the Civil Secretariat, the seat of Jammu and Kashmir administration, shall function both in Srinagar and Jammu.
“In view of sharply rising cases of COVID in J&K, the Govt has taken few important decisions ensuring safety of employees…•Darbar move deferred because of COVID •Secretariat to function in both #Srinagar & #Jammu •Office functioning not to be affected because of eOffice,” Lieutenant Governor Manjor Sinha said in a tweet.
“Secretaries will function from both locations in an equitable manner Office functioning will not be affected as files to move electronically between both Secretariats in eOffice.”
The civil secretariat and other move offices besides the Raj Bhavan were close in Jammu on April 30 and to start functioning in Srinagar from May 10.
The practice of ‘Darbar Move’ was started by Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1872 to escape extreme weather conditions in the two regions of the state. Under the arrangement, the administration functions in Jammu during six months of winter and in Srinagar during summer. The practice was continued later with the aim of providing governance benefits to both Kashmir and Jammu regions for six months by turns.
On March 30 last, Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparations for the move here and announced that there would be a substantial reduction in the transportation of records during the exercise.
“The government has taken concrete steps to switch to paperless offices by rolling out e-office in the moving departments. As such, most of the official record has been uploaded to the e-office, and training of employees has begun,” he had said.
The switch to online mode would help avoid wear and tear as well as any loss of official record during the bi-annual transit, besides saving the associated transportation costs, he had said.
