Adjustment of Migrants: A Pioneering Effort

 

        Adjustment of Migrants: A Pioneering Effort

The Postal Department was the first to relocate part of the Circle Office to Jammu. Other Central Government Offices followed suit. The story of how it was done is told hereunder. K Diesh was replaced by N D Dayal as PMG. I was inspecting the Divisional Office, Jammu, when I received a telephone call from the then Secretary, Kailash Prakash. I requested that he speak with the PMG, who was incidentally sitting next to me. He used a few bad words and said, “ No, I want to talk to you only.” In fact, he did not like Dayal and considered him to be part of the Diesh lobby, which was working against him. He said to me, “Deepak, my son Amit Prakash is working for the Illustrated Weekly of India, and he has been asked to write a story on the situation in the Kashmir Valley. He will fly to Srinagar after three days. Please receive him. His mother has been crying ever since she heard it.”

I replied, “Sir, you don’t worry, I will hand him over to some guys known to the militants, and they will escort him wherever he wants to go.”

“Deepak, I hope you know what you are talking about.”

I realised that I should not have said what I said. But now that words had been uttered, I had to stand by them. I assured him that the guys I referred to are from the department and they have cordial terms with the people on the other side.”

“Okay, do what you think is proper. I want my son to be safe.”

I flew back to Srinagar, and Amit Prakash arrived on the specified day. Two postal officials were assigned the job of escorting him, and they carried him places in the downtown. In the evening, he returned, had some drinks and a sumptuous dinner. The next day, he was sent back by Indian Airlines to Delhi. As soon as I received the message of the aeroplane leaving Srinagar Airport, I called the Secretary and informed him, “Sir, your son has safely departed by air to Delhi, please let me know when he reaches.” 

After about two hours, Kailash Prakash rang me up and said, “Deepak, Amit’s mother and I are highly grateful to you. She is happy to see her son back. Amit was all praise for your hospitality.”

“Sir, these are small things in life. I wish him a bright future.”

“Deepak, can I be of any help to you?”

I paused for a moment. Remembered a story of Shri Bhat, who had cured Sultan Zainul Abedin Budshah, and was asked the same thing by the Sultan. Shri Bhat, in turn, requested him to resettle Kashmiri Pandits and allow those who were forcibly converted to return to the Pandit fold.” The Sultan granted his wish and issued the necessary orders. Taking a cue from that story, I requested the Secretary, “Sir, there is nothing I want for my person. But, Sir, if you can help my community, please do so. Sir, a large number of staff of the Circle offices have migrated to Jammu. We could open a part of the CO at Jammu and let them work there. Incidentally, out of nine divisions (Postal and logistical), only two are directly affected by militancy. The closure of CO has affected all the divisions. If a part of CO functions at Jammu, the work of all subordinate divisions can be streamlined. PMG can be posted in Jammu while I shall look after the residual office in Srinagar.”

He immediately grasped my viewpoint and told me, “Okay. Tomorrow morning, I shall meet the Minister, and by 10:30 AM, you will receive your orders. The next day, at exactly 10:30 AM, the P.S. to the Secretary rang me and read out the order, which was almost a one-liner saying, “Shri Deepak Kumar Budki, DPS, J&K Circle will hereafter work from Jammu as his headquarters.” I showed it to the PMG, who had returned to Srinagar. He ordered me to prepare a plan for the distribution of work between the Jammu and Srinagar wings, which was done smoothly during the night. The orders were issued, and the migrant staff in Jammu were asked to join the office immediately. I also flew to Jammu and tried to hire a building, but the quoted rent was beyond the financial powers of the PMG. Getting approval from the Directorate would mean a delay of at least 2-3 months. So I zeroed in on the RMS Office housed in a departmental building at the Jammu Railway Station, which had some spare space. I called all the staff to be deployed there and told them that due to paucity of space, they should not expect facilities as were available in Srinagar. Even the size of their tables was drastically reduced. All records of concerned branches were transferred gradually, utilising the services of the mail bus plying between Srinagar and Jammu. The most important branch of CO, which was shifted and proved very fruitful, was the PLI section. After establishing it in Jammu, the work of PLI increased multifold, and so did the efficiency. 

The arrangement worked well. The only question that remained was how to adjust the remaining migrant Officials from the operative offices. I discussed the matter with the PMG and called for the Options from such officials. Orders were issued to attach them to the POs near their present places of residence, but the salaries were to be drawn from the parent offices only. It was made clear that the migrant officials will not be considered transferred to the offices where they are attached and will work in a subordinate capacity, even if they are senior to the Postmaster in the SO attached to. These orders were made transparent in order there are no complaints from the local unions against them. The system came on rails slowly. This arrangement was emulated by the Telecom department, as also other Central Government departments. 

Another pressing problem that we faced was staffing post offices in the Kashmir Valley so that they do not suffer due to a shortage of manpower. A scheme was launched to send migrant staff back to the Offices periodically, where security cover was available, viz. GPO Srinagar, Anantnag HO, and Baramullah HO. Since many incentives had been announced by the Central Government in regard to staff working in the valley, many Postal migrants volunteered to go back to work in these post offices. Batches of such officials were sent by special buses escorted by security forces from Jammu to Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla. Initially, the batches were exchanged every three months, but later, it was noticed that migrant officials were reluctant to come back to Jammu or Udhampur and preferred to stay in the valley. The periodicity of sending batches of staff to the valley was accordingly increased. 

By and by, the conditions in the valley improved. Tourists started arriving, and the migrant staff started moving out of the secure premises, which had been prohibited earlier. My relations with N D Dayal remained cordial throughout. Though I was working in Jammu now, both of us remained in touch with each other regarding sensitive matters. However, the incident of Kailash Prakash did create some doubt in his mind. Fortunately, my constant reminders to the Directorate ensured two direct officers, V Pati and P S Negi, were posted, who really shouldered the work well. I, on my part, recommended some subordinated staff for the Meghdoot award, which was further sent by the PMG to the Directorate, and a few officers received it. Some were awarded at the Circle level by the PMG with Dak Sewa Awards. However, surprisingly, no PMG ever thought me worthy of such an award despite my facing the situation single-handedly for so long. Anyway, I did my duty to the best of my capability and have no regrets. ….(To be continued)