Restoring Darbar Move key issue as Jammu awaits economic revival

Jammu, Sep 30: Amidst a cacophony in bustling Jammu's Moti Bazar, Chandan Gupta is attending a customer in his tastefully decorated fabric store.

As the customer walks out, Gupta expresses his hope that the new government heeds the business community’s call to restore the practice of Darbar Move.

The Lieutenant Governor’s administration ended the 149-year-old bi-annual Darbar Move practice in 2021, putting the business community in a bind.

The key issue of restoring the age-old Darbar Move practice is on the minds of voters associated with trade.

Jammu is one of the seven districts, which is going to see polls on October 1 with the National Conference (NC)- Congress and the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) gearing up for a major showdown.

For the last few years, the traders' bodies in Jammu have been expressing their concern over the declining trade volumes and see the abolition of the Darbar Move as one of the key reasons.

"Whosoever forms the government, they must inject a new lease of life into Jammu's economy,” Gupta said.

Kuldeep Sharma, a well-off hotelier in the old city says that he would vote for reviving the economy of Jammu.

“Our business has been going through a rough patch over the last few years. We hope the representatives we elect will initiate measures for its revival,” Sharma said.

A few shops down the street is the grocery store of Mudasir Ahmad, who believes that the new government should come up with Jammu-centric economic policies to give relief to the small business owners in the region.

“This government has focussed more on the start-ups while ignoring the existing businesses. We are grappling with losses,” Ahmad said.

He said that now they have an opportunity to elect the government of their choice.

“We hope it addresses the issues concerning the tribe,” Ahmad said.

A knot of prominent traders in Jammu's Raghunath Bazar, the business nerve centre of the city, said that the elections were taking place after over 10 years and they were happy to break free from a protracted bureaucratic rule.

“Over the last several years, no official has paid heed to our concerns. Now, we are happy as we are going to choose the representative government that we hope will listen to our genuine and legitimate demands,” he said.