Govt on the move

It is that time of the year once again when Jammu, the winter capital of the state, is agog with activity, writes Ehsan Fazili

Several people eagerly wait for the Durbar move to Jammu every winter, as the employees associated with it have temporarily settled there. Photo: Amin War

For the past 12 years, since he was appointed a Class IV employee in the Civil Secretariat, Ramesh Kumar, a Kashmiri Pandit, has been moving between the two capital cities of Srinagar and Jammu. Though he has always been satisfied with the annual move, this time he is facing with a precarious situation, and that is the lack of accommodation suitable for a couple, as he had got married earlier this year.

One among about 3,000 Pandits, Ramesh had been trying to utilise all possible links to ensure a suitable government accommodation for the next six months in Jammu.

The accommodation is not only Ramesh’s problem, but of many others from the Kashmir valley, who shift to Jammu every year during the six months of winter. A similar situation is faced by many other employees belonging to the Jammu region when the Durbar moves to Srinagar for the six months of summer.

Though, interestingly, the situation has eased off over the past two decades because of militancy. The state government accommodates many such employees in various hotels and guesthouses in Srinagar, which have been vacant since the terrorism started in the valley.

The state government also has at its disposal, clusters of ministerial bungalows, other quarters and flats, in the two capital cities. But still, many employees remain without suitable accommodation, mainly in Jammu.

Any move to deviate from this practice raises heckles at the social, political and economic levels. File photo: Anand Sharma

But despite the hassle associated with the move every six months, the two distinct regions of Kashmir and Jammu have been brought together by the dint of a socio-cultural bond, which each of these regions cannot afford to part with. This practice had started with the, then, Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1872 and has been going over the past 138 years.   

Though the move has been going on without any break, many officials believe that due to the modern scientific advancement and availability of electronic gadgets, the practice could be done away with. It would serve a dual purpose — save the State Exchequer heavy expenditure and ease the practice of physically carrying truckloads of office records.

But any move to deviate from the over-a-century-old practice has raised heckles at the social, political and economic levels. In the late 1980s, when the state government ordered a “truncated” durbar move, there was a strong resentment among people and an agitation was launched in Jammu against the government order. In the wake of this agitation, the government had to rescind its orders of the truncated move.

Even this year, some BJP members of the Opposition in the Assembly on October 6 protested against a Srinagar newspaper report that only half of the offices were being moved to Jammu this time. The Minister for Health, Mr Sham Lal Sharma, had to clarify that it was an individual opinion, and that the government did not subscribe to such views as it had already, on October 4, announced the dates for Durbar move to Jammu.

Some bureaucrats, however, differ with the government’s views. “The annual Durbar Move is fundamentally a historical baggage with the state government,” says a senior officer, on the condition of anonymity. When the practice was started by Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1872, it showed that rulers never wanted to encounter the hardships at either place, adds the officer. The government is in Srinagar during summer months, when it is most needed in Jammu during the summer. Similarly it remains in Jammu, when it is most needed in Srinagar during the winter months.

“The move has become a historical necessity,” claims the officer. According to him, the move twice every year has become socially acceptable as well. In the wake of the two-decade-long militancy in Kashmir, many officials associated with the move have shifted their children to Jammu for studies and temporarily settled there. So many people eagerly wait for the move to Jammu every winter. The common man also benefits from the biannual move, as many labourers also shift to Jammu during the winter months to earn their livelihood. For the economically weaker sections in Jammu, many get benefits, as the presence of more people during winter means more earning opportunities.

Employees associated with Durbar move have many tales to share, as the practice adversely affects both their domestic and social lives. Bashir Ahmad, an employee of the Civil Secretariat, who has been shifting to and fro since 1987, feels “socially cut off”. He belongs to a remote area of north Kashmir, and had to settle at his workplace in Sriangar six years earlier. Hence, he had to take care of three kitchens, one at his ancestral place in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, another for himself at Srinagar and the third one for six months in Jammu.

About two years back, he decided to shift his children to Jammu as he felt that their education suffered while he was in Jammu during winters. This may have solved a part of the problem but “even then he feels alienated from his children.” Even his two school-going children are not happy and feel “home sick” after shifting to Jammu. They had to adapt to a new social, cultural and linguistic atmosphere, as well as to the hot climate outside Kashmir.

The overall situation in Kashmir over the past two decades has prompted many people from different religious communities to opt out of the Valley. And that is why many people, mainly the senior officers, eagerly await the annual move to Jammu.

Over the decades, most people, children and families of officers or other employees associated with the move become used to the shifting operations between the two capital cities. Many of them, in the Kashmir or Jammu regions, after retirement, feel nostalgic about the memories of life in the other region.

The cost of the annual shift, too, increases with every move as truckloads of records are carried between the two capital cities. Even as the government took up a plan of e-governance more than a decade back, it has not been fully implemented in the Civil Secretariat, which houses the offices of Chief Minister, ministers and commissioner-cum-secretaries. A lot of paper work continues to be done at the Civil Secretariat, and the Assembly Secretariat in the absence of digitalised records. Though the Local Area Network (LAN) has been installed in the Secretariat at both Srinagar and Jammu, the system has not been adopted even after a decade.

The adoption of digitalised system in the Secretariat, both in Srinagar and Jammu, would help in cutting down on the physical carriage of the records, as frequent movement causes a big burden to the State Exchequer. This would also help in reaching out to more people in both the regions, which is the main purpose of the Durbar move. It would also help save much paper work as was seen during the recent Assembly session held in Srinagar in which crores of rupees were spent on the supply of printed questions and answers of the members and the ministers.

The Department of Information Technology established by the government has been looking at the digitalisation of records at different levels, but the issue of digitalising records of the Civil Secretariat is yet to be initiated. However, many small initiatives have been taken in this direction. An official website of the General Administration Department (GAD) was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on the opening day of Durbar in Srinagar on May 7, 2007. All government orders issued by the Civil Secretariat are available on the website.

Many officials believe that the hectic movement of the employees with truckloads of official records can be avoided with the introduction of e-governance and by digitalising records, which can be easily handled at the two Secretariats.

The number game

The cost of the annual shift increases with every move as truckloads of records are carried between the two capital cities. Photo: Amin War

A total of 7,976 employees, including 852 gazetted, 5834 non-gazetted and 1,290 Class IV employees moved from Jammu to Srinagar in April-May this year. In all, 367 vehicles, including trucks carrying office records and buses for the employees, were pressed into service during this move. An amount of about Rs 4.5 crore was spent on the move. The move includes the offices of Civil Secretariat, Raj Bhavan Secretariat and Chief Justice of the State High Court.

The costs have been increasing every six months and it is estimated that the present move from Srinagar to Jammu cost around Rs 5 crore. The move allowance, which is being paid to each employee, including the gazetted and non-gazetted officers, associated with the move, has been hiked from Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 this year. The Department of Estates of the state government provides office spaces to the different departments in the Civil Secretariat. It also provides accommodation to the officers and employees of the Civil Secretariat and the State High Court. Out of 3,200 residential quarters available in Jammu, the Estates Department has to provide accommodation to 2,300, which moved with Durbar this time. Other residential quarters, according to officials, are either occupied by the former officers or politicians, some of whom have migrated from the Kashmir valley. A total of 41 departments, including the Chief Minister’s Secretariat and other ministers and Commissioner-Secretaries, moved in full while 45 departments move in camps.