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| Darbar Move – the Pain and Pleasure | | | D.K.Vaid | 11/5/2011 9:46:34 PM |
| It is very rare that pain and pleasure would emanate from one single activity. But it happens in the State of Jammu & Kashmir. And under a fixed calendar! This pain and pleasure act, generally, is effective from November 1st in Srinagar and May 1st in Jammu. We call it ‘Darbar Move’.
From November 1st, as this year too, the Srinagar roads heave a sigh of relief; as those nasty – ever increasing in number – red beaconed vehicles of our Sarkar gracefully (read mercifully) get transported to the winter capital of the State. It is this time of the year the woes of the commuters of Jammu city do commence. The pilot cars ahead of the cavalcades have neither any regard for the sound pollution, nor for the pedestrians. And the illegal usurping of the roads by unimaginable count of cars wearing shining red beacons, not only leave the other commuters flabbergasted, but also put them in doubt of having paid their respective road taxes.
But the pleasure of the road negotiators of Srinagar city is the pain of a whole Division. All concerned of Kashmir will now have to climb down to Jammu, if they wish to chase their file cases awaiting disposal or adjustments. In summer, this agony happens to be the fate of people of Jammu Division. As the century old practice of ‘Darbar Move’ is religiously followed by all democratically elected governments of this State; literally walking foot prints of the erstwhile unelected Maharajas. The poor public has been conditioned to keep counting their profits and losses in respect of this Darbar Move.
Outsiders may raise their brows and question the propriety of using an antiquated and archaic word for the seat of a democratically elected government. For the benefit and knowledge of those who are not acquainted with the ways and whims of our Sarkar, I may explain that Jammu & Kashmir is different and the use of word ‘Darbar Move’ for Government Seat is symptomatic and not symbolic. Our Sarkar is mandated for six years unlike yours which is voted for five years only. Furthermore, we allow our Mantris and their Darbaris to have two houses, one each in the two capitals of the State. What is so big about it? You may ask. And you may even add that these poor fellows have to live like nomads. Sometime here, sometime there!
Indeed it may be so, till you enter their palatial bungalows. The kings of the yore would envy those Mantris and their top brass. A report in a section of press giving details of expenditure incurred on repairs, renovation and furnishing of these houses where the Ministers reside, is enough to prove that how the Austerity Measures, otherwise ordered and tatooted by the Government is only one of its several hoaxes. This blatant public deception and happy ‘miscarriage’ of public money is complete with the incurring of big expenditure on the private houses of the Ministers for repairs, renovations, additions and alterations. It may be possible to retrieve the furnishings ( which too is a supposition ), but how the Estates Department will retrieve the civil engineering expenditures on these private houses, once these Ministers demit office; is anybody’s guess. A fairly good part of SRE (Security Related Expenditure) pumped in by Government of India to combat militancy is used to construct Drawing Rooms, when it should have been used for compound walls or sentry posts only.
We care a fig for the adverse reports of your Auditor & Comptroller General and give a damn if we have failed to satisfy the Accountant General in several areas of expenditure. You must realize and appreciate that we are busy in Darbar Moves, every six months and have to undertake elaborate arrangements in order to smoothly affect this old royal practice. We do it, as you know, for the integration of two regions. And furthermore, our integration with India should come at a price. Why should Planning Commission of India, as reported, insist on 23 point reform programmes under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, for releasing our second installment of funds to the tune of 784.64 Crores. We have expended only less than half of the money released; it is because we have to shift places every six months. And, you know, shifting encroach upon our time and energy. We must only be funded and not asked for accounts. You’re diluting our Special Status through these ‘askings’.
Now see, the Union Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation has placed us at number 3 among the worst performing States. The Ministry appears to have paid no heed to the special difficulties and special status of Jammu & Kashmir. Judge us by what our Ministers say on development and watch for the ads churned out by the Information Department to eulogize the government performance. The inability of the Government to curb huge time and cost overrun quandary should not prick the bottom of Planning Commission of India and put the Great Mughal Road in the grip of delay. A Government which has to move to and fro between two capitals must be given some allowance in terms of time and cost over run.
All these big issues, not withstanding; as the Darbar shifts to pleasant summers, the common man stifles under unscheduled long cuts in electric supply and dry taps. The same goes good in respect of wintry Kashmir months.
But the pain of our ‘file cases’ having traveled across Banihal and Pir Panjal Range will put many in quandary. The Govt. Order directing offices to Move from one place to another, inter alia, religiously mentions that the offices will close on such and such date and such and such time. A similar strict provision is laid for opening, as well. But those of us, who have seen this Darbar, even from a distance; know that it is not for nothing that we rank third among non-performing States and happily inflicted by an ‘overrun syndrome’. Our ‘pains’ and ‘pleasures’ rotate between Jammu and Srinagar.
(D.K.Vaid, KAS-Retd)
248-Shiv Ram Enclave
Bye Pass Sidhra, Jammu-180019
(Tel/Cell; 0191-2662587/94190-00319) |
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