Jammu, Oct 29 (PTI) As the Jammu and Kashmir governmentgets ready to shift its base here from Srinagar next week,security in the state's winter capital has been beefed up fora smooth functioning of the administration for the wintermonths, officials said.
The Civil Secretariat, Raj Bhawan and other major officesalternate between the two capitals every six months,functioning from Srinagar in the summer months and from Jammuin winter, as part of a pre-Independence practice called theDarbar Move".
The Civil Secretariat – the seat of the Jammu and Kashmirgovernment - and other Darbar Move offices closed in thesummer capital on October 27 and are scheduled to reopen inthe winter capital of Jammu on November 6.
“The best possible security system has been put in placeto ensure the smooth functioning of the government from here,”Inspector General of Police, Jammu, S D Singh Jamwal, toldPTI.
He said adequate security arrangements have been made inand around the civil secretariat, Raj Bhawan and other keycentres besides the areas where the ministers, legislators andemployees involved in the transfer will stay.
The practice of the Darbar Move was started by MaharajaGulab Singh in 1872 to escape the heat of Jammu in the summerand biting cold of winter in Srinagar.
Elected governments after independence carried on withthe tradition.
As part of the security arrangements, road openingparties have been deployed from Banihal, the gateway to Jammufrom Kashmir along the Jammu-Srinagar National highway – theonly all-weather road linking the Valley with rest of thecountry.
Traffic on the highway was restricted to a one-way streamfrom Srinagar to Jammu on October 28 and 29. The restrictionswill be in force again on November 4 and 5 to ensure the freemovement of vehicles carrying government employees andofficial records to Jammu, the police chief said.
The IGP said closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras atimportant installations and thoroughfares including thesecretariat had been made operational and a plan devised todeal with frequent traffic jams on the roads.
The city is also being decked up for the reopening ofthe civil secretariat.
The secretariat and other offices have been renovated androads macadamised or repaired over the past several weeks.
Street lights have been restored and workers can be seencleaning pathways and painting the roadsides.
“The work is almost complete and we are ready towelcome the government and the move employees,” DeputyDirector Estates, Jammu, Satish Sharma said.
He said adequate provisions for water, power andsanitation were being made at all residential quarters.
“Since work is still in progress, we do not have theexact figures of the money spent so far,” he said.
The state government spends crores of rupees every yearto move voluminous records every six months, besides paying asimilar amount as allowances for the several thousandemployees who shift base with the government.
There have been demands from various quarters to abolishthe practice and set up permanent civil secretariats in Jammuand Srinagar. This would save the government a substantialamount of public money as well as enable people to have theirproblems redressed around the year, many have argued. PTI TASBDS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.