Abolished costly Darbar move practice soon after taking over as LG J&K: Manoj Sinha

Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Saturday said that soon after he took over the reins of UT on August 7, 2020, he decided to abolish the practice causing huge blow to the exchequer and that all major government services are almost in “online mode.”

“When the government offices shifted back to Srinagar in May 2021, the decade’s long practice of Darbar move ended forever. There used to be a practice of ferrying files in 270 trucks from Srinagar to Jammu and vice-versa,” he said as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) while addressing BHU Urology Update and Alumni meet, organised by SKIMS, Srinagar, at SKICC here. He said under the costly practice of Darbar Move, 1000 rooms were hired in Srinagar and 800 in Jammu every year to accommodate officers and officials.

The LG said that today almost 400 government services are in online mode under the Public Services Guarantee Act (PSGA). “All services are in auto-escalation mode. If an official fails to provide a birth certificate within 15 days, the matter will automatically reach to his higher ups and action may be initiated which includes fine also,” he said.

LG Sinha said that Srinagar is jam-packed with tourists and he is getting calls about availability of rooms almost every day. “Last year, 1.88 Crore tourists visited J&K and this year the number is expected to increase further,” he said. “The hotel infrastructure will come up at district level too besides at the tourist resorts of the UT.”

He said before 2020, 9000 developmental projects were completed in a year, and this year the administration is about to complete 93000 developmental projects. “The funding cost is almost the same and there is not a major difference,” the LG said.

About the G-20 Tourism Working group meeting in Srinagar held on May 22 to May 25, the LG said the event is much talked about across the globe even though similar meetings were held in various parts of the country. “The successful G-20 meet wasn’t possible in Srinagar without the support of locals,” he said