Security beefed up in Jammu as govt prepares to shift base from Srinagar

Jammu: As the Jammu and Kashmir government gets ready to shift its base to Jammu from Srinagar next week, security in the state’s winter capital has been beefed up for a smooth functioning of the administration for the winter months, officials said. The civil secretariat, Raj Bhawan and other major offices alternate between the two capitals every six months, functioning from Srinagar in the summer months and from Jammu in winter, as part of a pre-Independence practice called the Darbar move". The Civil Secretariat the seat of the Jammu and Kashmir government and other Darbar move offices closed in the summer capital on 27 October and are scheduled to reopen in the winter capital of Jammu on 6 November. The state government spends crores of rupees every year to move voluminous records every six months, besides paying a similar amount as allowances for the several thousand employees who shift base with the government.