The statement by Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah that Jammu would not suffer economic losses due to the direct rail link to Kashmir is a bit hard to digest because there are various sectors which are likely to be hit hard after the trains start chugging towards the Valley directly from the other parts of the country.
Although one cannot oppose development in the region but it is advisable to see the broader perspective of the railway link between Jammu region and the Valley as the taxi & bus business, and freight services must get ready to face a setback in Jammu as Kashmir bound passengers will no longer book rides from Jammu or Katra and the same will be the fate of truckers, who receive major share of their business from Valley during the fruit season and for supplying the essential commodities.
The goods trains between Kashmir and Jammu are likely to affect the livelihood of transporters engaged in ferrying such loads between the Valley and other parts of the country. The transport business in Jammu holds a major share of the economy and therefore the train services to Valley are going to affect the same in a big way making lives of people associated with this business difficult.
Another segment which is under threat is the local tourism because the break in journey of the tourists heading towards Valley earlier used to give opportunity to local stakeholders to showcase the beauty of Jammu region including Mansar, Surinsar, Bhaderwah, Patnitop, Sanasar, Suchetgarh Border, etc but with trains moving directly to Valley, it is likely that people will skip these destinations hitting the local tourism badly. These are some of the sectors which are likely to be hit but by going into details of the aforesaid change in the region with the introduction of train services one can find that markets meant for tourists like Raghunath Bazaar, Upper and Lower Gummat, Hari Market, Ranbir Market, Residency Road, etc will also face a jolt as far as the business and trade is concerned.
It is therefore the responsibility of the government to wait and watch, and see how the train to Valley will affect the local economy in Jammu and prepare a comprehensive plan to bail out the stakeholders who will get affected by the change.
