Administrative secretaries to hold ‘public darbar’ across J&K during Oct 25-31

Jammu, Oct 21 (PTI) In an initiative to reach out to people and address their problems, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Saturday issued a week-long roster of administrative secretaries who will be available for ‘public darbar’ in all 20 districts from next week.

According to an order issued by the general administration department’s Commissioner Secretary Sanjeev Verma, the deputy commissioners would be responsible for organising the sessions beginning October 25 and they would also ensure wide publicity of the initiative in the districts well in advance.

The ‘public darbar’ will commence from Shopian, Kupwara and Ramban districts on October 25 and the process will be completed by the month-end, the order said.

Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta and Financial Commissioner Raj Kumar Goyal, who is also the additional chief secretary of the home department, will preside over such meetings in Srinagar and Jammu on October 30 and 27, respectively.

According to the roster, there will be no public darbar on October 26 and 29.

The sessions will be held in Kathua, Budgam, Anantnag, Samba and Ganderbal districts on October 27; Kishtwar, Poonch, Udhampur and Doda on October 28; Rajouri, Reasi and Bandipora on October 30; and Baramulla, Pulwama and Kulgam on October 31, it said.

Between 2019 and 2022, the Jammu and Kashmir administration held four phases of its ‘Back to Village’ programme, an initiative to take the administration to people’s doorsteps across 4,483 panchayats to address all genuine development-related and other needs of the public.