Alin Shah
Srinagar, May 4 (KINS): The Civil Secretariat in Srinagar was partially reopened on Monday but all the official records are lying in Jammu.
Amid lockdown, the Civil Secretariat was reopened in Srinagar after a gap of six-months.
On the opening day, very less employees had turned up to mark their presence. Even the employees who had come had no work to do as there were no official records.
“Some employees turned up to Civil Secretariat today but no work is being done. All the official records and files are in Jammu. How can we work here? Reopening of Civil Secretariat seems just a formality,” an employee told news agency KINS.
The government has said that Civil Secretariat at Jammu shall continue to remain functional and the Move employees shall work on “as is where is” basis i.e. Kashmir-based staff shall work from Srinagar and Jammu-based from Jammu.
“We are sitting idle here. We fail to understand for what purpose the Civil Secretariat was thrown open here. It is instead posing a serious threat of spread of virus,” another employee said.
The employee said government has made a roster where only 33 percent staff has to attend duties. “They have to come on rotational basis. But it is not possible to come here when there is no transport neither we have been issued movement passes,” the official said.
The Srinagar Municipal Corporation has also installed four sanitization tunnels. The employees before entering the Civil Secretariat have to walk through these sanitation tunnels.
The practice of ‘Darbar Move’– under which the government functions in Jammu during six months of winter and in Srinagar during summer, was started by Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1872 to escape extreme weather conditions in the two regions.
The government has said that Civil Secretariat Treasury and J&K Bank Moving Branch at Civil Secretariat shall be functional at both the places within the Civil Secretariat at Jammu and Srinagar. “The Finance Department shall put in place a suitable mechanism for the purpose,” an order reads.
The order said that the dispensary of the Civil Secretariat shall remain functional at both the places within the Civil Secretariat. “The Health & Medical Education Department shall put in place a suitable mechanism for the purpose,” it added.(KINS)
