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history of the town Gurdaspur, the district headquarter,dates
back to early seventeenth century. The town was named
after Guriaji who bought the village and named after
himself. Guriaji was a Sanwal Brahmin, who once lived
in Paniar, a village five miles to the north of Gurdaspur.
Guriaji had two sons - Shri Naval Rai and Shri Palaji.
Shri Naval Rai's son Sahib Deep Chand was a contemporary
of sixth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Gurdaspur
is also connected with the activities of Banda Bahadur
who was captured by the Mughal from the fortress of
Gurdas Nangal in the month of December, 1715. |
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Gurdaspur town was made the District Headquarter on
1st May, 1852 of newly formed Gurdaspur District (first
named Adinanagar District). Gurdaspur is situated slightly
on the north of latitude 32 Degree N and longitude 75
Degree E. Climatically it has all the peculiarities
of sub mountainous tract, bracing winter, mild summer
and annual rainfall of 35". Gurdaspur is directly
connected both by rail and road with Pathankot in the
North-East and Amritsar in the South-West from which
it is 36 Kms. and 72 Kms. respectively. It falls on
the Amritsar-Batala-Pathankot section of the Ferozepur
Division of Northern Railway and also the Amritsar-Batala-Pathankot
road, both of which run all through side by side. Gurdaspur
has 'A' class municipal committee and according to census
of 1991, the population of the town is 54733 & is
spread over 10.85 sq.km. area. |
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The
present district of Gurdaspur came into existence
in April 1849,after annexation of Punjab by the British.
Mr.C.B.Saunders was directed to form a new district
which should include two-thirds of Bari Doab-North
of Amritsar. This district which covered the head
of Upper Bari Doab had an area of 1826 sq. miles in
the early twentieth century, with its four Tehsils
of Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Batala and Shakargarh.
The new district was created in 1849 with its headquarters
first at Dinanagar and then at Batala. Gurdaspur was
made the District Headquarters on 1st May, 1852. In
1859, Gurdaspur alongwith Sialkot was placed in the
new Division of Sialkot. But in 1884, Gurdaspur alongwith
Amritsar again become a part of the Lahore Division.
Mr.H.P.Fane was the first Deputy Commissioner of Gurdaspur.
The fate of Gurdaspur hung in balance for many days
during the partition of 1947.
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territory of Gurdaspur District was a Muslim majority
area and according to the notional division, it was
to be a part of Pakistan. Mr.Mushtaq Ahmed Cheema was
the Deputy Commissioner of Gurdaspur from 14th August,1947
to 17th August 1947. But Cyrill Redcliffe, the Chairman
of Boundary Commission awarded the District minus Shakargarh
Tehsil to India. Almost entire hilly region of Gurdaspur
including the famous hill resort of Dalhousie was given
to Himachal Pradesh as a result of re-organisation of
Punjab in 1966. Two new Tehsils of Dera Baba Nanak and
Dhar Kalan were created in 1995 and 1996 respectively.
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District Gurdaspur now consists of five Tehsils and
is spread over on area of 3570 sq.kms. According to
the census of 1991, the population of Gurdaspur District
is 17,57,808. The climate of Gurdaspur District is more
temperate than in the Central Punjab, and the district
benefits largely by its proximity to the hills to which
it owes not only much of its normally constant rainfalls
but also the cool breezes which even in the hottest
months frequently blow down from the upper ranges. The
backward district of Gurdaspur which has literacy rate
of about 62% was adopted for total literacy campaign
during the year 1997-98. |
| Gurdaspur,
which is a border district of the state, has played
a significant role in the defense of the country. Batala
and Dhariwal are important industrial centers known
respectively for the manufacture of machine tools and
woolen products. Dera Baba Nanak and Sri Hagobindpur
have great religious sanctity and Pathankot - a great
tourist transit center has a number of picnic spots
nearby. |
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