The ancient city founded by Raja Jambulochan and named after him as Jammu, is perched on the descending heights of a hillock on the eastern range of Trikuta. We no more have the ponds that preserved rain water for men, beasts and birds spread over these declensions but have retained their names as landmarks of old Jammu topography. River Tawi of Vedic Tohi almost forms semicircle bed going round the hillock on which the city stands and provides panoramic view when seen from the house tops that stand close to the river.
With the passage of time, the city of Jammu expanded and sprawled across Tawi. The slope now called Gumat, has developed into a flourishing bazaar. Once it was said that from Gumat downstream begins the territory of Punjab. As population increased, Jammu city moved across Tawi over which now it has four bridges. The Pul Par area meaning the areas across the bridge developed incredibly fast and a vast new city came into existence in post independence period. As history would have it, the area beyond Tawi became the hub of major activities for the Jammu citizenry. The rail line came to Jammu, and the railway station came up on the foothills of the Eastern Shivalik range.
This explains the amusing topography of the city of Jammu. The old city morning walkers used to take a stroll along Jammu-Srinagar Highway passing by the Palace onwards to Nagrota. Today few morning walkers are seen on this strip because of heavy traffic and the resultant pollution. Nevertheless, panoramic view of the Mahamaya forest far away across the Tawi makes one hold the breath. Building of the by-pass across picturesque Mahamaya hills, on the right side of which has come up the lovely colony of Sidhra, lends grandeur to overall topography of Jammu city. Actually, the broad panorama of Jammu city of today encompasses the view from Manda – Ramnagar range across the Tawi to Mahamaya forests. Thus, the small hilltop on which Raja Jambulochan had built a tiny habitat is steadily spreading from the eastern flanks of Trikuta to the east-west flank of Mahamaya. It means that in next hundred years, there may not be one but three Jammu cities interconnected by road and chair car or may be a unique flyover that could be a marvel of engineering. Many more bridges over the Tawi will come up and with these the link roads will form a network of sorts.
As we are envisioning the future topography of Jammu, what would be something like ecological disaster is that the forest cover provided at present by these two strips namely Manda-Ramnagar and Mahamaya forests may get depleted owing to deforestation process on a massive scale. In particular, the wild life sanctuary spread over 31 square kilometers on the former strip will be seriously endangered and even become extinct. The remedy lies in not urbanizing these forest covers that are in the proximity of present day Jammu city. It would be in the interests of the health and scenic beauty of Jammu to protect and preserve the existing forest cover by imposing a ban on construction of any locality or habitat in the region. Of course, we would recommend that big parks and children’s parks for recreational purposes could be developed. Perhaps, the State Government should develop these hill spots in proximity of the old city of Jammu.
Speaking about tourism in the State, traditionally Kashmir valley comes under focus owing to bountiful nature and its manifestations so abundantly found in the hills, dales, plains and water bodies. Jammu has never been very much in focus just because of climatic constraint and the movement of the Durbar to Srinagar during summer. We think that this trend needs to be changed and positive aspects of Jammu tourism need to be brought under consideration. Both the locales that we have mentioned above could provide much for imaginative mind in terms of their conversion to tourist spot.
We believe that since rail track has been laid between Jammu and Katra via Udhampur, the areas through which the rail passes, though hilly, could also be developed selectively for new habitats and locales. At present expansion of Jammu remains somewhat arrested or at least unplanned. This phenomenon shall have to be brought to an end. For a long time now, JDA has no plans for raising new townships or colonies. That is not going to help. We are told that the new Government in New Delhi has some plan of building a hundred cities in different parts of the country. We will suggest that twin cities need to be built both for Jammu and for Srinagar but contiguous to the existing cities. The new cities have to be raised according to the town planning projects that are provided with all modern facilities and civil amenities.
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