The story goes back to 14th century
B.C when Raja Jambo Lochan, while on his usual hunting mission around the
present Bagh-e-Bahu fort area saw a Tiger and a Goat drinking water from the
same pond. It was an unbelievable sight as to how a predator and prey were
drinking water from same pond unaware of each other’s presence. This made him
think that the soil of this place is so magical and virtuous that no living
creature holds any enmity against each other. And this is how Jammu city was
established on the banks of river Tawi.
Yesterday a very disturbing incident happened
very close to the place where I live. You all must be aware of news about a
Leopard which ventured into the city limits. Within minutes the news spread
like wildfire and became an instant hit all across #Google and #SocialMedia platforms.
Unfortunately the beast brutally injured a security guard and a wildlife
department official. The beast was later captured by Wildlife department by
giving a shot of tranquilizer.
Now the big question is: Why are the animals
moving from their habitat into the city chaos? The simple answer is that we
humans are intruding into their natural habitat for development in the name of
SMART city project, real estate projects or wood smuggling. Recently the govt. announced
its decision to move the Jammu High Court to Raika Forest area citing the
traffic problem leading to the present location in Janipur. The locals have
raised their objections to the proposed construction and requesting govt. to
reconsider their decision and think some alternative solution to the problem. To
construct the new High Court building, around 3000 trees are needed to be
destroyed to achieve the dream of SMART CITY. But what about the living creatures
who are living in these forests for centuries? Where will they go? Won’t they
migrate to city area? Are we not falling prey to the predators? As a well
informed citizen of the country, I understand development is the way forward
but is it right to do so at the cost of natural habitat destruction? I feel it
is possible to achieve development goals without disturbing the flora and fauna.
And to do that, we need look beyond conventional thinking. This is where
administration need to create a public forum and invite brilliant entrepreneurs
and submit sustainable development ideas.
I end the post with a quote from Bob Brown,
“The future will either be green or not at all”. It is on us to decide what we
want. Let’s build a planet where all living creatures live without any enmity
against each other like it did centuries ago.
This post is part of Blogchatter's CauseAChatter' (https://www.theblogchatter.