Saturday, September 12, 1998
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Regional vignettes | Saturday, September 12, 1998 |
    
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By M. L. Kak THE land of temples, as Jammu is popularly called, has seemingly lost its historical grandeur as it has turned into a "land of refugees" after Partition. The city and its adjoining areas have become a home for refugees from West Pakistan, occupied Kashmir, migrants from the Kashmir valley and from neighbouring hilly regions. Thus, the majority of over 12 lakh people residing in Jammu are not Dogras, the original inhabitants of the district. Though the city’s name figures in ancient books, including the Mahabharata and the memoirs of Taimur, historical documents reveal that Raja Jamboo Lochan founded Jammu city in the 14th century. During one of his hunting sessions, the Raja could perceive some divine power when he saw a goat and a lion drinking water together from the Tawi river. The city’s original name was Jamboo which, over the centuries, changed to Jammu. Excavations Among the eminent rulers
of Jammu were Mal Dev and Ranjit Dev. Ranjit Dev ruled
Jammu from 1723 to 1783 and had 22 Dogra chieftains under
him. During his rule, Jammu was considered an important
trading centre of North India. However, his successors
were weak, resulting in palace intrigues and feuds. This
infighting brought Jammu under the spell of Sikh rule.
When Maharaja Ranjit Singh was faced with a revolt, he
sent Gulab Singh, a scion of the ruling Dogra family, to
control it. Gulab Singh displayed great chivalry and
annexed the whole Jammu region to the Sikh kingdom. After
the Maharaja’s death, his successors failed to keep
the kingdom intact due to palace intrigues. Later, Gulab
Singh united various pockets in the region into one state
by paying Rs 75 lakh as indemnity to the British
Government. Three Dogra rulers ruled Jammu after Maharaja Gulab Singh. They were Maharaja Ranbir Singh, Maharaja Pratap Singh and Maharaja Hari Singh. These rulers took little interest in the development of Jammu. Mubarak Mandi, two palaces — Amar Mahal Museum, Rani Charak Mahal — Dogra Art Museum and Bahu Fort are some of the monuments built by the Dogra rulers. The beautiful Amar Mahal Museum, built with red sand stone, is surrounded by panoramic environs. The palace was built by Raja Amar Singh. The palace which has been converted into a museum, houses the Raja’s throne made of 120 kg of gold and embedded with golden lions. The museum has a gallery of valuable paintings and 25,000 books on different subjects and disciplines. The Dogra Art Museum located in the pink hall of the Mubarak Mandi complex, now called the old secretariat, has 800 rare paintings from different schools, including Kangra, Basohli and Jammu. The gold-painted bow and arrow of Mughal Emperor Shahjahan, handwritten manuscripts of Shahnama and Sikandernama, both in Persian, are among the antiques exhibited in the museum. A part of the palace complex has been converted into the Raj Bhavan, the Governor’s office-cum-residence. Another monument of historical importance is the Bahu Fort on the outskirts of the city. The fort, which encloses a palace, was built by Bahu Lochan, the ruler of Bahu city. The fort was later rebuilt by Maharaja Gulab Singh. It is also well-known for the historical temple of goddess Mahakali, popularly called Bawe-wali Mata. The fort overlooks the
Tawi. The environs, in a state of neglect were given a
facelift in 1985. If anything that speaks volumes about the history of Jammu it is the temples, shrines, including those of Muslim saints, churches and gurdwaras. There are more than 300 temples within a radious of 3 km in Jammu city and most of them have been built during the last 50 years. However, there are scores of temples and shrines which are treated as monuments. The Raghunath temple, built by Gulab Singh in 1851, was inaugurated by his son Ranbir Singh in 1857. The complex consists of 17 temples. Other temples and shrines of historical importance and which are frequented by people and the pilgrims to Vaishno Devi, include Ranbireshwar temple, housing a seven-foot-high lingam of black stone, Panchbakhtar, Parmandal, Dudhadari, Ziarat Baba Buddan Shah, Roshan Shah Wali, Peer Mitha, Panch Peer, Dargah Garib Shah, Peer Kho, Gurdwara Ashram Digiana. The different ziarats and dargahs in the city are visited regularly by more Hindus than Muslims. Possibly, faith in these shrines has sustained traditional communal amity in Jammu.
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IN the absence of major industries in Jammu, the economy of the area banks on pilgrims and the tourist traffic to Kashmir. Even if each pilgrim to the Vaishno Devi shrine spends Rs 100 per day while travelling from the city to Katra, it means an annual turnover of nearly Rs 40 crore for traders, hoteliers, and bus and taxi owners. More than 40 lakh pilgrims visit the shrine every year. In addition, 40,000 tourists visited Kashmir this year. Before the rise in militancy in 1990, six lakh tourists visited the valley every year. Since Jammu is the first stop for the onward journey to Kashmir or the Vaishno Devi shrine, the winter capital has its share of tourist traffic. This is one of the reasons for the tardy growth of industrial units in Jammu. Moreover, the lack of suitable incentives and facilities from the government has discouraged big business houses from setting up their units in the state. In the absence of any big
or medium-scale industrial units, people of the area bank
on the other parts of the country for their basic
consumer goods and luxury items. Though there are over
200 small-scale units in three industrial estates run by
the State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDC),
District Industries Centre and the Small-Scale Industrial
Development Corporation, not more than 20 units have
registered a rapid growth. Units manufacturing television
sets, sewing machines, mini steam press and steel ware
are doing well. In the Government sector, the cement
factory and the joinery factory have survived but they
are yet to register reasonable profits. Despite repeated requests from the state government, the Central Government has so far not set up any major industrial unit in Jammu. The state government has not succeeded in wooing top industrialists of the country for establishing even medium-scale units in the state. Prior to insurgency, owners of big business houses had visited the state to explore the feasibility of setting up medium-scale industrial units. Bureaucratic hurdles and lack of facilities such as water and power supply forced the industrialists to give up their plan of setting up their units. Rise of insurgency in the state further dampened the interests of industrialists. Local industrialists are of the opinion that the state government is responsible for the poor industrial growth in Jammu. The failure of the government to formulate a long-term industrial policy, to ensure uninterrupted power supply and the lack of market support have led to the slow growth of industries. The government has, during the last six years, announced short-term policies for incentives and packages. As most of these incentives were meant to lure new industrial entrepreneurs, the sick units were ignored. There are over 150 sick units in Jammu and most of them are on the verge of closure. The government is silent on this issue. As most of the local units have to bank on imported raw material, the cost of production increases. This hinders them from competing with goods manufactured in neighbouring states. Some of the local industrialists had approached the government to ban import of those goods which are manufactured in Jammu so that market cover was available to them. But the demand was not met. State government officials
are of the view that if the Central Government sets up
just four to six medium-scale units in Jammu, the problem
of unemployment could be solved. They feel that
steel-based units, and units manufacturing electronic
gadgets, computers and other agro-based factories could
do well in Jammu. — M.L.K. |
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THE mushrooming of unplanned private colonies, defective road alignments and the lack of parks and gardens have deprived Jammu of its pre-Partition glory when people from Sialkot came to the city of temples to have a sound sleep at night amid the cool breeze blowing from the Shivalik and Trikuta hills. Now people visiting Jammu, are unable to bear the stench as they alight from buses at the main terminal in the city. There is slush and refuse everywhere. The yard has a capacity of 400 buses, but more than 1,000 vehicles are found parked there, leaving hardly any space for the passengers to move around. The main office complex of the State Roadways Transport Corporation is a shambles. Even the rooms of senior officers are in a shabby state, and staircase leading to the first floor of the complex is broken. The bus stand does not have proper reservation counters. There is a lot of chaos even though a part of the terminal has been shifted to the warehouse area across the Tawi. The city, which is terribly congested, has no space for parking zones. Cars, buses, scooters and Matadors are usually parked on roads, adding to the problem of traffic jams. No wonder the city registers four to five road accidents every day in which two to three people are killed and 10 to 15 are injured. While the historic walled city presents a look of prolonged neglect in terms of bad sewerage and roads, the two planned colonies of Gandhi Nagar and Trikuta Nagar have, over the years, lost many open spaces meant for public parks to private houses constructed by influential persons. Both the Jammu Development Authority and the Housing Board have failed to develop Roop Nagar and Channi Himmat colonies. While the Jammu Development Authority could not fulfil its commitment to the development of Roop Nagar into a modern colony, the Housing Board has allegedly played a trick on several thousand people who deposited Rs 100 for securing plots in the Channi Rama residential colony. The people paid the booking fee over a year ago, but there is no sight of the proposed colony. Both the Housing Board and the Development Authority lack funds to develop the residential colonies. People have been allowed to construct houses in low-lying and flood-prone areas in the city and its neighbouring areas. During heavy rains, these colonies get waterlogged. The Jammu Municipality has no funds to improve the condition of roads and the drainage system in private colonies, including Shakti Nagar, Bhagwati Nagar, Bhori, Talab Tillo. The erratic drinking water and power supply round the year is a major problem being faced by the people. The only modern feature of the city is the flyover, constructed by government at a cost of Rs 32 crore. It has proved helpful for the movement of VIPs but has not solved the problem of traffic jams because 90 per cent of the transport does not use the flyover. In several areas of the old city, mules are still used for carrying goods as the lanes and bylanes are so narrow that even two-wheelers cannot pass through them. The narrow roads between Raghunath Bazaar and Mubarak Mandi have been rendered narrower by wayside vendors. At least 3,000 shopkeepers have set up encroachments on the main roads and lanes, with the result there is no scope for construction of pavements. These areas remain crowded and congested as 10,000 to 20,000 Vaishno Devi pilgrims throng the city everyday. Jammu has witnessed the
mushrooming of private educational institutions, nursing
homes and hotels. These have been converted into
money-minting units and no government authority ever
bothers to check the standard of education imparted in
the private schools. The increase in the number of
private schools is probably the result of failure of the
government to improve the standard of teaching in
institutions run by the state administration. —
M.L.K. |
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Eminent persons
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near
Akhnoor provide evidence that Jammu was a part of the
Harappan civilisation. In addition, the remains of the
Mauryan, Kushan and the Gupta periods have also been
found. Though there were a number of principalities in
the region, Jammu remained the seat of power with the
rulers of the area — whether it was the Sikhs, the
British or the Dogras.
