J&K govt starts work from Jammu

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday began functioning from Jammu after ‘Darbar Move’, the biannual shifting of the government offices to the winter capital from Srinagar, amid tight security.

This is the first ‘Darbar Move’ after J&K became a Union Territory (UT) on October 31. Ladakh, which was incorporated by Raja Gulab Singh into the princely state of J&K under British suzerainty in 1834, is a separate UT now.

The government shifted to Jammu from summer capital Srinagar after a 9-day break. While traditional fanfare and ceremonial rituals marked the office move, J&K’s first Lieutenant Governor Girish Chander Murmu was given the red carpet welcome as he inspected the ‘guard of honour’ at the lawns of Civil Secretariat in Jammu.

For the first time, folk dancers from Kud (a hill-station along the Srinagar-Jammu highway), attired in traditional dress also presented the cultural items on the occasion.

J&K is the only state — now UT — in the country which has separate capitals for winter and summer. With the change in season, ‘Darbar’, the government offices of various departments, along with nearly one million employees and their families and records are shifted biannually between the twin capitals.

Jammu turns into the seat of government when Srinagar is snowbound and freezing.  Thousands of families, which are not part of the official ‘Darbar Move’, also shift to Jammu to escape the biting cold.