A step which was long overdue.
This shifting exercise introduced by Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1872 was a most wasteful erstwhile Riyasat days exercise.it entailed no work is offices for one month, payment of heavy travelling allowance to bureaucrats ,maintenance of two sets of secretariats - one at Jammu and another at Srinagar.
After Independence similar very expensive shuttling of capitals between between New Delhi and Shimla was discontinued .
Administrative and other Govt. premises thus vacated were used first by the displaced state Govt of East Punjab which had lost Lahore . After Chandigarh came up these building came to used by the newly formed state of Himachal Pradesh.
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Before 1947 Leh used to be the summer capital of Ladakh Wazarat and Skardu , presently under Pakistan's illegal occupation, used to Ladakh's winter capital.
Mehbooba Mufti should work for liberation of Skardu , the winter capital of India's Ladakh.
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India's Historical Gratitude to Jammu-Srinagar Capital Shifting - Now Ended
India's military operations in Kashmir valley in 1947-1948 owe their logistical facilitation to then derelict road between Jammu and Srinagar which came to India after the Accession of the Riyasat of Jammu and Kashmir.
This narrow road had wooden bridges etc and was used only twice a year during the biannual shifting of Riyasat's capital between Jammu and Srinagar .
The Maharajas of J and K wished avoiding the main highway passing through the territory of the British .for the sake of privacy and hence had got built a simple though dangerously passing across the formidable Pir Panjal mountains . This road was used nearly only twice a year nearly exclusively for carrying Darbar shifting specific traffic. Just before the convoys moved on this Road it was repaired in a makeshift manner .
Before 1947 the main highway connecting Jammu and Srinagar ran through Sialkot and Muzzafarabad then under British India's direct control.After Partition of India this went to Pakistan .. In fact during the time delay in Maharaja Hari Singh's decision on Accession of J and K ,Pakistan's military and political leaders would arrogantly boast that Kashmir was in Pakistan's pocket as for even ' one can of kerosene ' the Valley depended on the Sialkot Highway which Pakistan had under her control '.
.Maharaja's special purpose Darbar shifting road which was first used for Indian Army's logistical support to the Valley and connectivity to Ladakh - through the Zoji La Pass .
In its constantly upgraded form this simple / rudimentary road is now India's main and world standard Highway to Kashmir
Jammu-Sialkot Railway Line - Pre Independence Times From Sialkot , a narrow gauge train ran ( Via Ranbir Singh Pura ) to Jammu.
ReplyDeleteOld Jammu station ( in derelict condition ) stills exists on the Right Bank of River Tawi.
When , broad gauge railway line was built by India to Jammu , the new Railway station ( on the Left of the River Tawi ) was named Jammu Tawi