By IANS,
Srinagar : Jammu and Kashmir’s government offices re-opened here Monday after the annual darbar move – an annual practice of shifting the capital from Jammu to Srinagar.
The offices had closed April 24 in winter capital Jammu. Over 5,000 employees have shifted here as authorities pressed into service state transport corporation buses and trucks to move officials and government records. The darbar move is a practice continuing for over 100 years from the time of the Dogra kings.
A contingent of smartly-dressed Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police (JKAP) presented the guard of honour as Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad reached the civil secretariat Monday morning.
Azad was warmly received by his cabinet colleagues and senior officials. But attendance was thin owing to a two-day strike called by state government employees to press for their demands, which include increasing the retirement age from the present 58 years to 60.
Authorities have deployed paramilitary troops and police to guard offices here.
“We have made adequate security arrangements for the smooth functioning of the government offices here,” a police officer said.
This is the last darbar move of the present coalition government as the state goes to polls later this year.