With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh slated to visit Jammu and Kashmir next week, the state government has issued a circular asking administrative heads and ministers in Omar Abdullah’s coalition government to remain in Srinagar till the scheduled visit was over.

During Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s visit to the state earlier this month, most officials were caught on the wrong foot with no information about their respective departments. Taking a serious note of the incident, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah impressed upon the officials that lack of preparation for high profile visits will not be tolerated.

Commissioner Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD), Basharat Dhar confirmed that the government has issued a circular before Diwali asking the ministers and bureaucrats to remain present in Srinagar. “Officials are supposed to remain present at the place of their positing on the occasion of the Prime Minister’s visit,” he said.

Dhar said the government was waiting for a detailed itinerary of the Prime Minister’s two-day visit starting October 28. The Government has been informed that the Prime Minister will be coming to inaugurate the 12-km Anantnag-Qazigund railway line, the final stretch in Kashmir. He is also expected to review implementation of the reconstruction plan and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits.

Union Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar and a team of officials had earlier reviewed the situation in the state and asked for the reconstruction plan to be expedited.