Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir will shift its civil secretariat from Srinagar to Jammu for the winter, the government has announced, keeping alive the 150-year-old practice known as the Darbar Move for a second straight year.
Offices that work a five-day week will close in Srinagar after working hours on October 30, and those on a six-day week on October 31. All offices are to reopen in Jammu on November 2. Around 151 departments and more than 10,000 employees change locations as part of the move, which takes the administration to the winter capital before the cold sets in and back to the summer capital, Srinagar, towards the end of April.
The practice began under the Dogra rulers, who wanted to escape the summer heat of Jammu and the bitter cold of the Kashmir Valley. It survived the end of Dogra rule in 1947. The Lieutenant-Governor's administration halted it in June 2021, citing a switch to e-office that it said would save about 200 crore rupees a year.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah restored the move in 2025, a year after taking office. Offices moved to Jammu on November 3 that year after a four-year gap, and the Chief Minister called it a promise kept.
Under the practice, offices move to the summer capital Srinagar at the end of April and back to the winter capital Jammu towards the end of October. The administration has said the e-office system would save about 200 crore rupees a year, but a large section of politicians and employees kept pressing for the annual shift. Last year, offices were given a warm welcome when they reopened in Jammu.
The government says this year's winter shift is on schedule; the first offices will start work from Jammu in the first week of November.