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Cross-LoC Trade Facility Ends as Uri Turns Toward Tourism
A special centre in Salamabad once helped people on opposite sides of the Line of Control exchange goods.
The trade used goods of equal value instead of money or banks.
It began in 2008 and included items such as apples, dry fruits, handicrafts and textiles.
The trade stopped in 2019 because security agencies raised concerns about smuggling and links to terrorism.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has now officially ended the centre’s trade role.
The Tourism Department will use the centre to encourage visitors to Uri.
Officials hope this will create jobs and help local young people.
The change means the centre will support tourism instead of cross-border trade.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has formally ended operations at the Salamabad cross-LoC trade facility.
The facility regulated duty-free, cashless barter trade between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad from 2008 until its suspension in 2019.
Officials cited security concerns, including alleged weapons smuggling and drug trafficking, for ending the trade.
The Tourism Department will repurpose the centre to promote border tourism and create local employment.
The decision ends prospects for reviving cross-LoC trade while shifting the facility toward tourism-related activity.
- Who
- The Jammu and Kashmir government, its Tourism Department, local officials and Uri residents are involved.
- What
- The Salamabad Trade Facilitation Centre is being transferred from the Industries and Commerce Department to the Tourism Department, ending its cross-LoC trade role.
- Where
- The facility is at Salamabad in the Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir, near the Line of Control.
- When
- Cross-LoC trade operated from 2008 to 2019 and was suspended in April 2019; the centre has now been formally repurposed.
- Why
- The trade was suspended over security concerns, while the centre is being repurposed to promote border tourism and create local livelihoods.
Security and Trade Concerns
Tourism and Local Livelihoods
Whether cross-LoC trade should continue
Security and Trade Concerns
Security agencies and the government cited alleged misuse of the trade route, including weapons smuggling, drug trafficking and terror links, as reasons to suspend and ultimately end the trade.
Tourism and Local Livelihoods
Supporters of the facility’s new tourism role say Salamabad has tourist infrastructure and that shifting its purpose can create jobs and livelihoods without reviving the suspended trade.
Impact on Uri
Security and Trade Concerns
The end of the facility closes the possibility of restoring the economic model that operated between the two sides from 2008 to 2019.
Tourism and Local Livelihoods
Uri MLA Sajad Shafi said promoting border tourism could put Uri on the tourism map and provide opportunities for local residents affected by the trade suspension.
Key facts
- Facility
- Trade Facilitation Centre at Salamabad, Uri
- Trade period
- 2008–2019
- Trade model
- Duty-free, cashless barter involving goods of equal value
- Suspension
- April 2019
- Former trade partners
- Srinagar and Muzaffarabad
- New department
- Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department
- Planned use
- Border tourism, outsourcing and local employment
Quotes
Tourism Department official
Official of the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department
“We are formally taking over the facility at Salamabad and will use it for tourism. We are planning to outsource it to create jobs and livelihood for local youth and make them partners in promoting border tourism”
NDTV
Dr Sajad Shafi
Uri member of the legislative assembly
“The trade facility was defunct since the suspension of trade in 2019. I thank Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the government for taking this decision and handing over the facility to the Tourism Department for promotion of border tourism”
NDTV
Sources
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