With deadly COVID-19 triggering a debate over Darbar Move in Jammu & Kashmir, the stakeholders have pushed for limiting expenditure on the bi-annual exercise.The stakeholders argued that government should go for measures to control expenditure on the practice of Darbar Move exercise started by Dogra rulers in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1872.“The government cannot afford to halt the exercise as it would put one of the two regions at disadvantageous position in governance. So the best solution is that government should go for measure to curb expenditure,” a senior official suggested.As already reported by news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the government has spent more than Rs 200 crore on Darbar move exercises in the past two years. The official suggested a number of austerity measures to reduce expenditure on the exercise.“The government is itself responsible for massive expenditure on Darbar Move. Why cannot they go for austerity measures if they want to reduce bill on the exercise? They need to rationalize HRA and other expenditures on employees,” he said, adding that government should go for reduction in allowances paid to Move employees.
Another official opined that halting the exercise is neither in the interest of people of Jammu & Kashmir nor its government. “This tradition of shifting secretariat to Jammu during winters and Kashmir during summers suits both the people of J & K and the government. It serves dual purposes: governance at doorsteps and mingling of two cultures.
This the only link to share the values, traditions and culture of each other t. The people belonging to two different cultures are sharing the values of two cultures. If this Darbar Move had not been there, nobody could imagine J&K as one territorial entity,” he told KNO, adding that these two regions remain cut off from each other’s for some period during winters.He said abandoning the practice will hamper good governance and effective delivery in J&K. “The employees of the province where secretariat will not be stationed will lose interest in governance because they will be at disadvantage.This will keep the people of two cultures permanently separated and one which will be put to disadvantage will keep cursing the people of other province,” he said.Voicing his opinion against abandoning the exercise, the official said that if the secretariat is permanently stationed in one region, the topography of J&K is such that government will lose sight of issues and problems faced by people of other region.“The region (where civil secretariat is not stationed) would become another erstwhile district of Doda and districts of Poonch and Rajouri. These districts never catch the attention of government. These districts are lagging in development in comparison with other districts of J&K. The issues of the people and development remains in focus due to Darbar Move,” he said—(KNO)