Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday received a rousing reception at the civil secretariat in Jammu upon his arrival to assume office in the winter capital. This marked his first official visit to the Jammu Secretariat since taking office as the CM of Jammu and Kashmir on 16 October in Srinagar.
He was warmly greeted by his council of ministers, including Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary and cabinet members Sakeena Masood Itoo, Javed Ahmad Rana, Javid Ahmad Dar, and Satish Sharma. Advisor to CM, Nasir Aslam Wani, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, Additional Chief Secretary to CM, Dheeraj Gupta and other senior officials, and staff of the secretariat were also present to receive him. In a gesture of camaraderie, CM visited the chambers of his ministers to formally welcome them, reflecting his commitment to fostering a collaborative working environment.
During his visit, he also inspected the ongoing construction of the new Assembly Complex. Omar also toured the complex, where officials from the Public Works Department (PWD) Roads & Buildings (R&B) Division provided a detailed briefing on the project’s various stages, timeline and next steps. It is after a gap of six years that a CM has entered the secretariat here with J&K downgraded as a Union Territory. Mehbooba Mufti was the last CM of the full-fledged J&K state and her coalition government fell after the BJP withdrew support to her.Interestingly though, Omar was CM of the full-fledged state till 2014 and was now occupying the office as CM of the Union Territory.
Omar was forced to take the nearly 300 km road route from Srinagar to reach Jammu to be in the secretariat in time as low visibility there prevented flights from taking off. On Monday, he also shared pictures of his road trip that he started from Srinagar. He wrote on X; “Poor visibility in Jammu meant a sudden, last minute, road trip. Nothing flew into or out from Jammu yesterday so I had to saddle up & take the road to the winter capital”.
On the first day in the civil secretariat here, he chaired a meeting of his senior colleagues and also reviewed functioning of the tourism department. The CM functioning from Jammu during the winter months marks partial restoration of the biannual Durbar Move under which the offices used to function in Srinagar in summers and move to Jammu in winters. It may be noted the National Conference in its Assembly polls manifesto had made a commitment to restore the traditional Durbar Move.
According to an order of the General Administrative Department (GAD) issued on October 23, the Administrative Secretaries and Head of Departments were instructed to begin operating from the Jammu Secretariat from November 11, while their presence in Srinagar will continue as necessary.