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| Slender presence of Babus, Mantris | | Strike makes Secretariat look dull, deserted | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Apr 12: The highest seat of governance - civil secretariat which used to remain abuzz with activity, hustle and bustle around this time of the year in winter capital presents a dull and deserted look - courtesy employees' strike which has made it wear this days before the entire government machinery would shift to summer capital. While the presence of bureaucrats and senior officers has failed to keep alive the activity in the corridors of power, the irregularity and slender presence of Ministers in their official chambers also adds to the drab scenario of the Secretariat.
Until the last day of Assembly on April 9, the corridors of the Secretariat main building and adjacent buildings including the Assembly complex could be seen bubbling with some activity even as the employees were on strike at that time as well. The movement of MLAs, Babus and their Mantris from one building to another and a thick presence of security and their personal staff kept things moving .Until the concluding day of Assembly session, the Secretariat presented somewhat busy look as visitors kept coming for personal works. t is a different story the individual works of common people have also come to a halt with no one to attend at the lower level not to speak of looking into their files or considering them. The lobby in the main building, the corridors on all floors looked empty and furniture vacant with no visitors, staff around.
"I have been coming for the last two weeks almost every alternate day to get my file through the concerned quarters …….it has been failed exercise as senior officers are not ready to even meet people like me", said Mohammad Sultan from Rajouri. My worry is that Secretariat is about to come to close in few days when the entire official record will be packed …..if strike continues I will be forced to move to Srinagar to get my case settled", he lamented. Like Sultan, there are many visitors coming o Jammu from far and wide to get their works done but to no avail. March end and April month would in the normal course witness highest number of visitors as offices wind up thereafter under the biannual ritual of Durbaar Move. Against hundreds of visitors who would come these days, the rush has been reduced to very few, rather none visiting the Secretariat.
Significantly, while the striking employees have a reason to stay away from the offices, their seniors who are not on strike have also been truant as the lower level staff is not there help them operate their work, not even peons in certain chambers to open the locks. Many official chambers could be seen locked for the entire day as apart from Ministers the officers and heads of departments chose to stay away and attend some other works. Today, which happened to be the first day of week, the Secretariat witnessed attendance of the employees swell up marginally, apparently the harsh measures announced by the government. However only 6-7 ministers came to the Secretariat, stayed for not more than two hours in their respective chambers.
"Ministers' presence has been affected by the strike as their personal staff has also joined their counterparts in striking the work completely……..some ministers are arranging staff on daily age basis or seeking the help of those are attached with some departments in the Secretariat", said a senior officer, justifying the absence of the ministers from the seat of governance. The government has sent other ministers to different districts to take stock of the situation arising out of strike of state employees for the last two weeks, he added. However, the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah came to the Secretariat today in the afternoon and stayed for nearly two hours.
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