Bahawalpur

Bahawalpur
بہاولپور
City

Clockwise from top: Darbar Mahal, a former palace of the Nawabs of Bahawalpur, Noor Mahal, Farid Gate, Sadiq Dane High School, Entrane of Dring Stadium and Bahawal Victoria Hospital.
Bahawalpur

Location in Pakistan

Coordinates: 29°23′44″N 71°41′1″E / 29.39556°N 71.68361°E / 29.39556; 71.68361Coordinates: 29°23′44″N 71°41′1″E / 29.39556°N 71.68361°E / 29.39556; 71.68361
Country Pakistan
Region Punjab
District Bahawalpur
Tehsil Bahawalpur
Union councils 36
Area
 • Total 237.2 km2 (91.6 sq mi)
Elevation 461 m (1,512 ft)
Population (1998)[1]
 • Total 408,395
Time zone PKT (UTC+5)
Postal code type 63100
Area code(s) 062
Website www.bahawalpur.gov.pk/
Bahawalpur Government Website

Bahawalpur (Punjabi, Urdu: بہاولپور‎), is a city in Pakistan. The city is capital of the Bahawalpur District and is the 13th most populous metropolitan area of Pakistan.[2]

History

Entrance of Noor Mahal

The princely state of Bahawalpur was founded in 1802 by Nawab Mohammad Bahawal Khan II after the break-up of the Durrani Empire. The city is over 4.51 kilometres long. Nawab Mohammad Bahawal Khan III signed a treaty with the British on 22 February 1833, guaranteeing the independence of the Nawab. The state acceded to Pakistan on 7 October 1947 when Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V Bahadur[3] decided to join Pakistan at the time of independence. The predominantly Muslim population supported Muslim League and Pakistan Movement. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India while the Muslims refugees from India settled down in the Bahawalpur state. Bahawalpur became a province of Pakistan in 1952 and was merged into the province of West Pakistan on 14 October 1955. When West Pakistan was divided into four provinces — Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab — Bahawalpur was amalgamated in Punjab.

Economy

Irrigation from canals such as this provides the city with fertile soil for crop production.

The main crops for which Bahawalpur is recognised are cotton, sugarcane, wheat, sunflower seeds, rape/mustard seed and rice. Bahawalpur mangoes, citrus, dates and guavas are some of the fruits exported out of the country. Vegetables include onions, tomatoes, cauliflower, potatoes and carrots. Being an expanding industrial city, the government has revolutionised and libertised various markets, allowing the caustic soda, cotton ginning and pressing, flour mills, fruit juices, general engineering, iron and steel re-rolling mills, looms, oil mills, poultry feed, sugar, textile spinning, textile weaving, vegetable ghee and cooking oil industries to flourish.[4]

Solar Park

Near the city the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park is being erected, a photovoltaic power station named after Quaid-e-Azam, the founder of Pakistan. It is the first ever utility scale solar power plant in the country and is to have a capacity of 1,000 MW when finished in 2016. A first phase was brought online in April 2015 and opened by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chinese President, Xi Jinping.[5][6]

Education

Public schools

Bahawalpur Central Library
Sadiq Dane High School

Private schools

Colleges and universities

Bahawalpur is home to The Islamia University of Bahawalpur and Quaid-e-Azam Medical College.

Sports

Bahawal Stadium is the multipurpose stadium, home to Bahawalpur Stags. It hosted a sole international match, a test match between Pakistan and India in 1955.

Notable people

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ "POPULATION SIZE AND GROWTH OF MAJOR CITIES" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  2. ↑ http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files//tables/POPULATION%20SIZE%20AND%20GROWTH%20OF%20MAJOR%20CITIES.pdf
  3. ↑ Christopher Buyers, Royal Ark website. "Bahawalpur: The Abbasi Dynasty". Archived from the original on 15 November 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
  4. ↑ http://pportal.punjab.gov.pk/portal/portal/media-type/html/group/304/page/default.psml/js_pane/P-11aeca7c599-100e5?nav=left
  5. ↑ "CM defends power schemes". The Nation. 12 September 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  6. ↑ "Pakistan Solar Park Plugs In 100 MW To Grid". Cleantechnica. 19 June 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2015.

External links

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