The 'Darbaar' is about to move. Every time the ‘Darbaar’ moves from one city to the other city it is the local people who are at the receiving end. For most of the winter months the government virtually evaporates from Kashmir, and almost all development works slow down or even stop. For any work in the secretariat departments, the common man has to make travel arrangements to Jammu. And for those poor people who cannot afford the travel, waiting till the state machinery returns to summer lands of Srinagar is the only option left. And often their work is held hostage to the 'Darbaar', creating delay in resolution of issues. Kashmir presents a neglected, deserted look for the winter months, when nature’s hardships are compounded with virtual non-existent state machinery.
The ‘Darbaar’ Move closes offices in Jammu on April 29th and opens on May 9 in Srinagar, thereby having a “No Secretariat State” for 10 days. This practice is similarly repeated in October of each year, where another 10 days the State Secretariat stays shut. Add to this the time taken by these Move offices to settle down in the alternate city, where again usually a week or 10 days are lost. Taking into account the time taken for moving staff, transporting records and the time taken to settle down in offices, it may be assumed that almost a month is lost on each move, thereby in effect having just about 10 months of work available. The plethora of government holidays available compounded with the ‘5 day work week’ in the state secretariat squeezes more time from the leftover working months. Adding to the woes of common public are the reports that most non local officers prefer to leave for their homes on Fridays to be with their families over the weekend and come back to their office stations on Mondays only, there by creating a void in offices.
In order to have Secretariat and ministry offices at both places the State Government has had to incur huge sum on offices, bureaucratic and minister’s residential accommodation in both cities. Most of this infrastructure lies unused for six months in Srinagar and Jammu, but has to be maintained nevertheless. How much can a state, which finds tough to meet its development plans with limited finances, afford to spend on such an exercise?
Moving the ‘Darbaar’ involves shifting of office records between the two cities which costs hefty capital, keeping in view the involvement of proper inventory management, tagging, packing, transport, and unpacking, retrieving inventory and reestablishing at the destination. The transportation is handled by hundreds of trucks of the State Transport Corporation.
For a common man this shifting of ‘Darbaar’ is nothing but a continuity of a Monarchy in the garb of democracy. If the subjects can withstand the winter climate in Kashmir, why should the rulers and bureaucrats escape to warmer plains and leave the common people at the mercy of God, to fend for selves. 

Lastupdate on : Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 29 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST