By IANS,
Jammu : The Jammu and Kashmir administration Monday began functioning from here with the opening of the civil secretariat in keeping with the tradition of anually shifting the capital from Srinagar for the winter.
Governor N.N. Vohra, who became the executive head of the state after the dissolution of the assembly in July, took the customary guard of honour at the civil secretariat.
The seat of government is in Srinagar for six summer months and then shifts to Jammu during the winter. This practice has been prevalent from the time when the state was a monarchy over 100 years ago. The erstwhile rulers began this custom to escape the extreme winters of Kashmir and the extreme summer of Jammu. The practice has been called “Durbar Move” since then.
The custom is now mainly to maintain a balance of power between the Jammu and Kashmir regions. The change in the capital involves moving about 2,000 government employees and transporting huge piles of files. It costs the government about Rs.10 million.