Darbar Move: J&K Secretariat opens in Jammu

Civil Secretariat, the seat of the Jammu and Kashmir government, opened here on Monday after a 10-day break as part of the bi-annual 'Darbar Move'.

Besides the Civil Secretariat, the other move offices, including Raj Bhawan and police headquarters, also opened here after six months of functioning in Srinagar.

Governor Satya Pal Malik inspected the traditional guard of honour at the Civil Secretariat.

The 'Darbar Move' was started by the then Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1872 to escape the extreme heat during summers in Jammu and biting cold of winters in Srinagar.

The practice was continued by elected governments post-independence to provide governance benefits -- by turns -- to both Kashmir and Jammu regions of the state for six months.

All necessary security and other arrangements have been made to ensure smooth functioning of the government from here, officials said.

Addressing a press conference, Malik announced that the government will give compensation to the farmers who lost their crops due to snowfall in Kashmir.

He said authorities have started the process to assess the damage caused in Kashmir.

Jammu was not affected much, he added.

Untimely snowfall in Kashmir on Saturday damaged apple crop worth crores of rupees with a large number of fruit-laden trees either uprooted or their stems broken, officials had said.

Kashmir also suffered a power outage due to the snowfall.

Electricity was restored in parts of Kashmir on Sunday.

"The power supply in the remaining areas will be restored within two days," Malik said.