OPINION: Darbar Move- A visionless step in the age of IT and AI
It may have been meaningful in the nineteenth century. Today, in the era of advanced technology age, it is an expensive, disruptive, chaotic and purely a futile exercise.
Anuj Kumar Verma
The revival of the Annual Darbar Move practice by Omar Abdullah government, in this age of Information Technology, e-governance and Artificial Intelligence (AI), is, no doubt, a visionless step taken, in haste, to appease a small section of shopkeepers of Jammu city. What was once considered necessary when files moved from hands to hands and on papers, only, is totally a futile exercise today; Imposed forcibly on a city which already is overpopulated, with congested roads and overburdened public services, that too in the present age of Information Technology, E-governance and Artificial Intelligence.
The Darbar Move practice was started by Maharaja Ranbir Singh during the year 1872 when Srinagar was isolated by winter snow and the whole administration machinery had to be shifted manually to Jammu. At that time, every file, every register, every receipt and record travelled by road to Jammu; governance could not function without this seasonal migration.
This practice was put to stop by a visionary administration headed by the Lieutenant Governor of J&K in the year 2021, when the whole governance and filing system was shifted to e-offce; files were transferred among different sections and officers digitally with digital signatures, making the file processing confidential and reducing the chances of corruption, up to a major extent.
In an era of advanced usage of Information Technology, E-OFFICE and the Artificial Intelligence, this move was a step taken with full wisdom, a broad vision and also saved an estimated expenditure of more than Rs. 200 crores, annually, the money saved could be spent on development projects including improving the public services in Jammu, providing of tourist infrastructure in, otherwise, neglected tourist spots in Jammu region. Tourist spots like the twin lakes of Mansar & Surinsar, Dudu, Basantgarh, R C Peak, Sudmahadev, Mantalai, Panchari, Moungri, Lander, Nuri Chamb, Mugal Maidan, Bhaderwah, Dachean Marwah in Jammu region are already already victim of the government apathy and need immediate attention to bring these beautiful mesmerizing tourist spots on national tourist map.
By providing an all weather connectivity and building up the required tourist infrastructure like parking, restaurants, tourist huts, homestay facilities, the tourists inflow to these beautiful spots could have increased considerably which could have boosted the local as Jammu city’s economy. The Rs. 200 crore figure is the documented annual saving from eliminating the carriage of physical files during the Move, that too, in 2021. Today, this figure might have increased considerably and touched the 300 crores mark. Moreover, It does not include every rupee spent on transport, security, accommodation, office arrangements and disruption.
For the 2026-27 winter session, the J&K government has ordered 91 offices and establishments to shift to Jammu—41 in full and 50 in camp mode. Each eligible moving employee is being paid a uniform Special Move Travelling Allowance of Rs 25,000, while October salaries were drawn in advance. But the burden does not stop there. Every moving employee also receives a Temporary Move Allowance (TMA) of Rs 2,000 per month as part of salary, or Rs 12,000 for the six-month Darbar period. In 2019, the government spent Rs 1,213.44 lakh on TMA for 10,112 employees during one Move and Rs 1,163.40 lakh for 9,695 employees during the other; together, the TMA bill for that year was Rs 2,376.84 lakh, or about Rs 23.77 crore. This means the Move is not merely a ceremonial shifting of files. It is a recurring payroll-linked entitlement, a transport operation, a security exercise and an urban-services burden, repeated every six months.
The National Conference – led government has put all Jammuites, already living in an over populated and congested city of Jammu, to face more troubles! Already the city is overpopulated because of migration of people from Peer Panjal and Chenab Valley regions. A number of new colonies, on privately owned as well encroached lands, have come up during the last three decades; A big force of labour as well as technically skilled youth has settled in Jammu from states like Bihar, Orissa, MP, Jharkhand and U.P. Jammu district had a population of 15,29,958 in the 2011 Census, with 7,65,013 people in urban areas. Its present population, within the Jammu Municipal Corporation limits, must certainly be touching 10 lacs after a gap of 15 years from the last census of population in 2011, when the Jammu Municipal Corporation alone had 5,76,198 residents.
In addition, 47,766 Kashmiri migrant families are registered with the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants), Jammu—again a family count, not a population count for JMC limits.
Into this already overstressed city, the Darbar Move brings thousands of employees, their families, vehicles, security personnel and service demands for six months.
Now, with the Darbar Move, Jammuites are faced with hours long traffic jams; VIP movements put the traffic on hold for 30-40 minutes, unnecessarily! The over-burdened government health infrastructure starts crumbling down during the Darbar Move months. Rental properties are in high demand with monthly rents touching the sky, during these six months. Government Medical College Jammu, District Hospital Gandhi Nagar and Sarwal Hospital already serve Jammu city as well as patients from surrounding districts and distant regions. During the Darbar Move months, the additional presence of employees and families adds seasonal demand for OPD services, medicines, diagnostics, emergency care and hospital accommodation.
Most of the common Jammuites are against the Darbar Move, which otherwise is also a big burden on the government exchequer. This is a game for appeasing a small section of shopkeepers to garner votes for the party.
In this age of IT and the Artificial Intelligence, is this even thinkable to shift whole civil secretariate records and huge numbers of employees and their families to Jammu and then back to Srinagar after six months; providing them fatty amounts as move allowance, TMA and arranging for their accommodations six months in Jammu and six months in Kashmir. Ordinary Jammuites do not gain from inflated rents, traffic chaos, hospital overcrowding and the diversion of public funds. They bear the costs.
J&K should not have moved backwards from e-Office to paper-driven relocation. Both Jammu and Srinagar can function as permanent administrative centres, with digital files, e-signatures, video conferencing and online public services ensuring uninterrupted governance. This is precisely what the 2021 reform achieved.
The Darbar Move may have been meaningful in the nineteenth century. In the present 21st century of advanced usage of Information Technology, E-GOVERNANCE and Artificial Intelligence, it is an expensive, disruptive, chaotic and purely a futile exercise. A government that claims to represent the people must choose citizens, hospitals, roads and taxpayers over a seasonal spectacle and the commercial interests of a few.
(STRAIGHT TALK COMMUNICATIONS EXCLUSIVE. The author is an Environmental Advocate, Social Activist and the Policy Writer.)
