Shifting of Jammu and Kashmir capital waste of money: Omar Abdullah

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today termed the shifting of the state capital between Jammu and Srinagar twice every year as "waste of money", but said no viable alternative to the arrangement has come forth so far.

"Do I think the 'Durbar move' (shifting of capital) is a waste of money? Yes I do. Is there an alternative? I haven't seen a viable alternative suggested," Omar wrote on the micro-blogging site twitter.com.

The state government shifts its capital from Jammu to Srinagar in the first week of May every year and functions here for six months before moving back to Jammu along with volumes of records.

The state government spends crores of rupees on travel allowances for the nearly 5,000 employees and transportation of hundreds of thousands of files between the twin capitals.

In response to a tweet from his follower, Omar said the Darbar move practice was "escapist".

"I agree. We run away when people need us most and (they) face the most difficulty. The darbar move is escapist," he said.

The state government's 'move offices', as they are known in local parlance, will close in Jammu on April 28 and reopen here on May 7.

The practice of Darbar move in Jammu and Kashmir is more than a century old. It was started by the Dogra Maharaja of the state to escape the extreme weather conditions in Jammu during summers and in Srinagar during winters.

The practice was continued after Independence also so that people from both Jammu region and Kashmir Valley have equal access to the seat of power during the year.