J&K CM Omar Abdullah starts work from winter capital Jammu

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah started working from the civil secretariat here on Monday, as part of an annual practice of shifting the administrative base to the winter capital.
The deputy chief minister, cabinet ministers, chief secretary, administrative secretaries, and heads of departments also resumed their work from Jammu, officials said.
According to a general administration department order of October 23, only administrative secretaries and top department heads will shift to Jammu from Srinagar under a curtailed Darbar move.
The civil secretariat in Srinagar will also remain functional, the order said.
The annual move, a long-standing tradition in Jammu and Kashmir, was halted during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The practice involved shifting the government from Srinagar to Jammu from October to May due to harsh cold conditions in the valley.
Abdullah is the first chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir since its reorganisation as a Union Territory. He earlier served as a J&K chief minister from 2009-14, when it was still a full-fledged state.
Abdullah had to travel by road from Srinagar to reach Jammu after his flight was cancelled due to poor visibility on Sunday. “Poor visibility in Jammu meant a sudden, last minute, road trip. Nothing flew in to or out from Jammu yesterday (Sunday) so I had to saddle up and take the road to the winter capital,” Abdullah posted on X.
Eleven flights were cancelled on Sunday due to poor visibility and another was called off due to technical reasons, airport officials said.
Jammu airport director Sanjeev Kumar Garg said, “Poor visibility delayed flights on Monday morning also but the weather opened up later in the day and flight operations resumed normally.”
Omar shared three videos of his motorcade moving from the summer capital of Srinagar to Jammu on Sunday.
In another post on Monday, Omar said, “Looking at the visibility from the balcony of the official residence (in Jammu), I don’t think flights will be operating any time soon today (Monday) either. You can barely see the sun in the haze.”
This is the chief minister’s first visit to the Jammu civil secretariat after assuming charge on October 16.
He was accorded a warm welcome by the employees as he reached the seat of the government at 10am on Monday. Administrative secretaries of all government departments also resumed their duties at the civil secretariat in Jammu.
The civil secretariat in Jammu sprang to life on Monday morning after six years.
On June 19, 2018, the last elected government of the PDP-BJP alliance fell apart after the latter pulled out, citing the worsening security situation.
The meteorological department said that smog-like weather conditions will remain in the plain and border areas until the region receives a spell of rain. A western disturbance is likely to cause light rain and snowfall in the next few days. (With inputs from HTC, Jammu)