Jammu (Jammu-Kashmir): The cancellation of the Darbar Move, the bi-annual tradition of shifting the Jammu and Kashmir secretariat from one capital to another, has upset traders in Jammu as it would mean huge losses to them amid a battered economy hit by three consecutive lockdowns.
As a part of the 149-year old Darbar Move practice, hundreds of files used to be moved in trucks from Srinagar to Jammu during winters and Jammu to Srinagar during summers.
On June 30 earlier this year, a notification by the administration asking employees to vacate their Darbar Move accommodations in three weeks from Jammu and Srinagar marked the end of the tradition.
Soon after the government’s decision, traders in Jammu voiced their concerns saying that the end of the bi-annual tradition would harm Jammu’s economy, especially in the winters when Darbar Move opening would boost the business. In October, thousands of Kashmiri people would throng the local market.
“Darbar Move was the backbone of the economy in Jammu. Our sales would pick up with the migration of 10,000 employees from Kashmir. Now, we don’t know what the future holds for us,” a shopkeeper in Raghunath Bazar Surjeet Singh told ETV Bharat.
Singh added, “It is not only employees but many other sections would also be affected by the move including hoteliers, shopkeepers, businessmen and others. The Darbar Move also paved way for the intermixing of cultures (Kashmiri and Dogra).”
The recent decision to stop Darbar Move has put the spotlight on the bleak economy of Jammu and Kashmir. Unlike other states, Jammu and Kashmir has faced three years of lockdown (including 2021) after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which was accompanied by curbs and restrictions.
Both the Jammu and Kashmir divisions are struggling to survive after three consecutive lockdowns led to massive losses of over Rs 40,000 crore.
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