The bi-annual Durbar Move continues to affect the state’s economy badly as every year more than Rs 36 crore is being spent on the movement of civil secretariat employees alone.
Overall, Rs 100 crore is being spent on the annual Durbar Move, including employees of other offices outside the secretariat, who are part of the move.
In the cash-starved state, where not many steps are being taken to give a lift to the economy, such a huge expenditure becomes a burden for the state. Now, the employees are demanding to increase their move allowance from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000, which will have an adverse impact on the state economy.
The data of General Administrative Department (GAD) for the past three years suggests that the Durbar Move expenditure is on the rise. In 2013, during the bi-annual Durbar Moves, Rs 35.37 crore was spent, which included the total move allowance to employees, travelling allowance, carriage, loading and unloading of material, refreshment and other things.
“The expenditure, in 2014, increased to Rs 36.30 crore and in 2015, the move from Jammu to Srinagar in April cost the state Rs 17.77 crore,” the data revealed.
The GAD is yet to release the data of expenditure incurred on the Durbar Move in the month of October from Srinagar to Jammu in 2015.
Sources in the administration said the government was thinking on accepting the demand of move employee for increasing their move allowance from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000. “This is surely going to increase the burden on the state exchequer,” a source said.
The government must think of some way out otherwise the expenditure would continue to increase, the source claimed.
Durbar Move weighs heavily on state’s coffers
