Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 30: The workers of Dogra Front and Shiv Sena took out a strong rally in Jammu city demanding restoration of old Darbar Move practice or make Jammu permanent capital of the State.
The activist of the Front and Shiv Sena unit under the leadership of Ashok Gupta (president) assembled in the old City and held protest demonstration. Gupta said Darbar Move used to happen every year in Jammu and Kashmir, but for the last few years our capital is neither Srinagar nor Jammu. There is strange situation.
“Today, we want to remind Chief Minister Omar Abdullah through this protest that he had promised that as soon as the government is formed, the tradition of Darbar Move will be restored.
Our people do not know whether they have to go to Srinagar or Jammu for any work in the secretariat. There is no solution to people’s issues, people are worried whether their files are in Jammu or Srinagar,” Gupta added.
“Our protest today is to seek that either Jammu should be made the capital or Darbar Move practice should be restored,”Gupta asserted.
He said Dogra ruler Maharaja Ranbir Singh made the arrangement of shifting the Darbar from Srinagar to Jammu in the 1870s to escape harsh winter in the Valley and Jammu’s extreme heat in the summer.
Gupta said that resumption of the `Darbar Move’ is essential for reviving the economy of Jammu. The Darbar Move will not only ensure administrative efficiency but also stimulate local businesses and industries.
“Over 150 years old tradition, the practice of shifting capital to Srinagar in summers and Jammu in winters was introduced by Dogra rulers and hundreds of carts driven by horses and elephants were employed to move to Kashmir on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. A total of 151 Government departments would shift capital twice a year in J&K and hundreds of buses and trucks are employed to accomplish the task. Over 10,000 employees moved with it.
The party president further stated that in the absence of any local tourism, Jammu is mainly dependent on the arrival of people from Kashmir during the winters and the pilgrims coming to the Vaishno Devi shrine. He said Darbar Move is in the interest of people of Jammu as well as of Kashmir region.
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