Sir,
Apropose article “Durbar move : a raging controversy” by K N Pandita in Daily Excelsior of November 2, 2019 there seems one more possibility in addition to his valuable predictions and possibilities for creating a new site of secretariat somewhere downstream of Verinag. I fully agree with his views that Jammu people will protest and oppose this proposal. Morever, if any suitable site is identified in Jammu province, obviously people of Kashmir also may not accept it. In such dilemma, a balanced view to satisfy both the regions, would be to convert union territory of Jammu and Kashmir into two separate states with already established their own separate secretariates. Moreover, now article 370 and 35A have been abolished so converting Jammu and Kashmir into two states may not be any political hurdle as was anticipated prior to August 5 scenario. In this way, there will be no need to construct another secretariat, involving tremendous expenditure as existing secretariats in Jammu and Srinagar have enough capacities to cater the needs of their respective states. If this proposal is accepted, then nearly two centuries old practice of Durbar Move after every six months, involving nearly 400 crore rupees, will also come to an end.
K S Jamwal
Ex Dy Director General
Geological Survey of India
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