Darbar moves every 6 months but ministers stay put in their regions
With the cancellation of the winter and summer secretariats, region-centric politics and rift between the PDP and BJP ministers have adversely affected the work culture of J&K in the past nearly two years.
Most of the senior BJP ministers of the PDP-BJP coalition government were absent from their duties when the civil secretariat – the highest seat of governance – was in the summer capital, Srinagar, this year. Deputy Chief Minister and Power Minister Nirmal Singh and Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Sham Lal Chaudhary were mostly absent while Health Minister Bali Bhagat took 88 days to visit Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar, which received the highest number of injured during the four-month long unrest.
Similarly, the PDP ministers had skipped their duties when the Darbar offices opened in the winter capital, Jammu.
The civil secretariat closes here as part of the 144-year-old-tradition of the biannual shuttling of government offices for six months between the twin capitals – Srinagar and Jammu.
“Why should we be here when the BJP ministers don’t attend secretariat in Srinagar,” a senior PDP Cabinet minister told this reporter at Jammu in January. He left the Jammu office and didn’t return for the next 20 days. “They (BJP ministers) prefer to visit their constituencies rather than attend the civil secretariat in Srinagar,” he said.
The trend continued when the Darbar moved to Srinagar in April and people had to face huge inconvenience due to the absence of BJP ministers, who are holding important portfolios like power, health, irrigation and industries. The BJP ministers skipped their offices and spent most of their time in Jammu when the Valley was hit by a major unrest.
While the Darbar has moved to Jammu again for this winter and the civil secretariat opened there on November 7 for six months, the people have been complaining about the absence of the PDP ministers. “It is surprising to see that none of the PDP ministers is here,” said a Kashmiri resident, Syed Zahoor, who had gone to Jammu for grievance redressal. Zahoor returned home disappointed on last Friday.
Former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had introduced the concept of summer and winter secretariats in 2006 to keep the ministers available for the redressal of public grievances on rotation basis in both capitals. However, late former Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed abandoned it last year.
Residents say the abandoning of the winter and summer secretariats had caused inconvenience to them because ministers were absent both in Jammu and Srinagar.
“We know the internal rift between the PDP and BJP won’t end soon. It has persisted for the past two years. The winter secretariat in Srinagar would have been helpful in addressing our grievances in harsh winter months ahead,” Zahoor added. The ministers of both the ruling parties have fought tough verbal duels, after the Central government announced establishment of AIIMS in Kashmir. To placate the BJP leaders in Jammu, the Centre announced establishment of AIIMS in Jammu also.
The PDP-BJP government had to face a tough time with divergent views of its ministers on the NIT crisis, the ban on beef eating and treating of the state flag at par with the National Flag.
As the Darbar moves out of the capital cities, the administrative powers are vested in the divisional commissioners of Kashmir and Jammu divisions.
Meanwhile, huge rush of people was seen outside the office of Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Baseer Khan in Srinagar on Friday. However, a majority of the people returned home disappointed with the complaint that their grievances were not addressed.
