Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo
The history of Jammu is traced from the ancient period of pre-Bhuddist era. Etymology suggests an almost 3,000 years of history of the vast land of Jammu region comprising high Himalayas, middle hills and green & brown plains in the south. In summer, particularly in the months of May and June, extremely intense sunlight or hot winds raise the mercury and following the hot season, the famous monsoon lashes the region with heavy downpours along with thunderstorms. Winters too are sometimes very harsh and extremely wet throughout the region. However, the beauty of the region lays in its dense forests, high snow clad altitudes, plenty of water resources, gushing and flowing rivers/nallahs and indeed in its beautiful big and small water lakes like Kaplas-Kailash at a height of 13,000 feet, Mansar, Surinsar, Sanasar and the artificially created water reservoirs in the areas of Doda and Kathua.
Historically speaking, Vishnudharamuttar-Puran and Vasuki-Puran are the oldest treatises about the region. In fact, Vishnudharamuttar Puran, written in 14th century (though a few experts opine that its manuscripts were written in 8th or 10th century), is the biggest Puran of Jammu and Kashmir giving a beautiful description of different dimensions about philosophy and life of Jammu. The Vasuki Puran is the smallest one written, most probably, after 8th century in the Bhaderwah area. It has a great significance in respect of the history, geography and life of the whole area right from Kishtwar to Chinani. Neelmatapurana is the other important document that lays the foundation of historical pathways of the last more than 5,000 years in respect of Kashmir valley followed by the all important Rajtarangini written by Pt. Kalhana.
There has been a constant complaint about the neglect and discrimination of the Jammu region. Some initiatives were taken up to mitigate this notion, though the initiatives are in their infancy yet. There had been an overwhelming verbal emphasis on the tourist map in the region with focus on areas like Patni Top, Surinsar and Mansar etc. The potential of such a development, unfortunately, could not be gauged well by the earlier dispensations, for one or the other reason.
Younger generations are fond of new tourism possibilities and adventures, time has come to convert dreams into reality to add up new avenues of income from tourism in the province of Jammu. Tourism, religious tourism, cultural tourism, craft tourism, art tourism, educational tourism and even the medical tourism have added to the idiom of the modern vocabulary. Consumer surplus has increased despite slowdown and younger ones love to spend money on clothes, adventure, foods, travels, amusement and merry making. Jammu needs to speed up and grab the opportunity without further delay. It is the time to act, plan, implement and follow up. Once done, it is a perpetual return for decades onwards.
Some important strides are in the offing over a period of time. Kathua region is one such area of focus. The golden tourist triangle of Bani-Basohli-Billawar needs to be linked with Atal Setu on the backwaters of Ranjeet Sagar Dam (Mini Goa) and development of existing island parks in the dam waters is also a great possibility. The Lakhanpur-Bani Development Authority or Basohli-Billawar Authority and any other such official mechanism should be merged together to pave a way for a more responsible and responsive authority machinery to take a wholesome view of this whole belt spread over 125 km east to west and north to south. It has potential to develop not only for the summer season but winter sports could also be organised in this zone at two important points of 7,000 feet altitude. This author is a votary of merging together the departments of tourism and culture or in the alternative, club them together under one command and control for speedy policy and results in this regard.
Jammu city is an important part of the landscape of Jammu region, historically, politically, socially and geographically. It is an area almost equivalent to 27 sq. km. It could have been developed without damaging the environment, natural beauty and jungles around it. Actually Jammu requires a model of foundational development. It needs to be kept in mind that Jammu city is the face of Jammu region and partly of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir as well. Jammu should boast a bit that a major milestone has been achieved with the establishment of sewage treatment plant, and as a consequence, a vast area on the right bank of the river Tawi including Jammu east and Jammu west is linked with the plant in respect of sewage treatment. In order to swim towards the concept of a smart city fully, Jammu needs to cross some more milestones.
When the sewage & drainage plans were initiated in the J&K state in the early nineties, it was the Srinagar city which was adopted as a first case in 1992. Jammu city picked up the project only in 1996. Over the last 24 years, a lot of ground has been covered undoubtedly. It was in 2010 that the first sewage treatment plant with 10 Mld capacity was inaugurated in the Bhagwati Nagar extension area. This was followed by two more plants with 27 Mld and 30 Mld capacities in 2014 and 2017. There is no doubt that these plants, their working, upkeep and maintenance are a highly technical pursuit. That is why the responsibility to operate and maintain the main plant at Bhagwatinagar extension has been given to the specialists like Marketing Engineers by the UEED which upkeeps and operates it based on the “Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor” technology.
In a way, the plant is a marvel that is required to be upgraded to 170 Mld capacity in near future in order to accommodate the greater city load for the next five decades. Though the areas on the left bank of the river Tawi have not been included yet but one plant of 4 Mld capacity is coming up at Beli Charana. The Bhagwati nagar plant has a huge capacity, besides the general sewage treatment, to attract people for education, training, research and exhibition. In case it is given an organised green look with flower beds, trees and other important auxiliary artefacts etc in its huge sprawling ?compound including clean water ponds in its vicinity, it can become a major amesument park on the banks of river Tawi in the days to come. It needed visionary bosses and willing workers in the UEED, JMC and in the Civil Secretariat. The government of India has been liberal in such projects so far as funding is concerned.
One important aspect of the plant is also its laboratory which testifies the levels of pollution of river, water bodies and other allied flow of water. National Centre for Microbial Resource, Pune is already working on identifying the Antibiotic Resistence Genes in Indian Communities on the basis of the samples of the sewage in the plant. The solid manure produced in the plant is one of the best nutrients for all kinds of vegetation and greenery. The fluid that is finally out from the plant has been tested perfect and beneficial for the agriculture fields.
Jammu city has 25 Nallahs in total from Nagrota to Gol-Gujral which flow into the Tawi river. Out of them 19 Nallahs are on the right bank of the river while six are on the left bank of it. Free flow, cleanliness, less solid waste in the Nallahs, management and increase of capacity building during floods, creating gateways to use the water after treatment and allowing their flow to River Tawi during heavy floods, channelising excess water during normal rains, formation of bed and roof of the small and big Nallahs are major challenges again for UEED and JMC.
Solid waste management in Jammu city is a relatively new concept which may have to go to the expert panels and hands active in this field at other places. JMC sponsored waste collection initiative is a welcome step but it required vigorous campaigning. Swacchta Abhiyan requires to be linked with the solid waste management programme and the Government and semi-Government agencies should be inspired to associate themselves with this programme actively.
The proposal of a lake in Jammu city and the formation of River-Front, as in Ahmadabad, provides one more glaring opportunity to go for the foundational development in the city for which the city has been craving for a decade now. The Mayor, Dy. Mayor, Corporators and Sarpanchs in and around the Jammu city have a bounden duty to come up to the expectations of the modern and future generations. Though UEED, ERA, JMC and I&FC Departments are expected to work in coordination to achieve the targets of their vision of foundational development, yet the common people are supposed to cooperate and also build congenial environment to achieve what they deserved for a long time now.
(Feedback: ashwanikc2012@gmail.com)
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