The civic body, Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) is taking good care of Jammu City by achieving promising levels of cleanliness with only a few exceptions. It is really praiseworthy that the people running JMC are introducing out-of-the-box initiatives to keep Jammu City’s cleanliness level at par with the cleanest cities in the country. For the first time, JMC has introduced road cleaning trucks installed with automatic brooms to wipe away filth and dust from the roads. This is a modern concept of cleaning large stretches in less time and is proving very effective in Jammu.
In the same context, the JMC has now come up with a totally new concept of using floating trash boom barriers to contain the pollution in Jammu’s water bodies including drains and canals. This measure is befitting for cleaning the canals and big drains as the floating barriers stop the plastic and other floating trash from passing on and therefore the same can be removed at specific points to get rid of such pollutants. Both these concepts are not new as many western countries rely on these methods to keep their cities clean and free from filth.
The residents should not dump garbage, plastic wastes, construction material or any other refuse into the drains, canals and natural water bodies because these are the main source of pollution and choking of the water bodies. Now when the floating trash boom barriers will be installed in all the water bodies, it is likely that things will become better and pollution will be contained to a certain extent. The people in Jammu are worried about choking drainage systems, environmental degradation and increased risk of water logging, particularly during the monsoon season. But surprisingly they don’t mend their ways and keep on adding trash to drains and canals as one can observe by visiting any of these sites at any moment of time.
There is also a pressing need for sustained public awareness campaigns and stricter enforcement mechanisms to ensure that such initiatives yield long-term results. While infrastructural interventions like mechanical road sweepers and floating barriers are crucial, their success ultimately depends on behavioral change among citizens. Imposition of penalties for littering, coupled with community participation drives, can play a decisive role in transforming Jammu into a truly clean and environmentally responsible city. Educational institutions, market associations and local communities must actively partner with the civic body to create a culture of cleanliness that goes beyond mere compliance.
The JMC has plans to even apply these floating barriers in the River Tawi as well, which is imperative to improve the health of this water body considered to be the lifeline of the region. As the responsibility of JMC to keep Jammu City clean is significant and challenging, the approach of taking cues from other countries to tackle issues efficiently is laudable and the helmsmen should continue to do so to achieve targets.
