Taunsa Sharif

Taunsa
تونٚسہ
City
Taunsa

Location in Pakistan

Coordinates: 30°42′20″N 70°39′28″E / 30.70556°N 70.65778°E / 30.70556; 70.65778
Country Pakistan
Region Punjab
District Dera Ghazi Khan District
Capital Taunsa Sharif
Towns 1
Union councils 13
Area
  City 300 km2 (100 sq mi)
  Metro 10 km2 (4 sq mi)
Elevation 157 m (515 ft)
Time zone PST (UTC+5)
  Summer (DST) PDT (UTC+6)
Post code 32100
Area code(s) 0642

Taunsa (Punjabi,Urdu: تونٚسہ), also called (Taunsa Sharif تونسه شريف), is a city and capital of Taunsa Tehsil of Dera Ghazi Khan District in the Punjab province of Pakistan.[1] The town has important Sufi shrines, the most notable is that of Hazrat Muhammad Suleman Taunsvi.


Peer Pathan Shrine

Etymology

It is customary in Pakistan to use the postfix Sharif with the name of any place with a saint is buried, hence, the city is also called Taunsa Sharif.

Location

Taunsa Sharif is located on the Karachi-Peshawar Highway, which is also known as Indus Highway, it is approximately 975 kilometres (606 mi) from Karachi and 450 kilometres (280 mi) from Lahore. Taunsa is also the location of one of the headworks on the Indus River called Taunsa Barrage, located several kilometres south of Taunsa city.

Taunsa Barrage

Main article: Taunsa Barrage

Taunsa is also the location of one of the notable structures on the Indus River called Taunsa Barrage, located several kilometres south of Taunsa city. It was designated a Ramsar site on March 22, 1996. The Taunsa Barrage was completed in 1958, and it has been identified as the barrage with the highest priority for rehabilitation. It requires urgent measures to avoid severe economic and social impacts on the lives of millions of poor farmers through interruption of irrigation on two million acres (8,000 km²) and drinking water in the rural areas of southern Punjab, benefiting several million farmers. In 2003, the World Bank approved a $123 million loan to Pakistan to rehabilitate the Taunsa Barrage on the River Indus whose structure had been damaged owing to soil erosions and old-age. The project was designed to ensure irrigation of the cultivated lands in the area of the Muzaffargarh[2] and Dera Ghazi Khan Tehsil[3] canals, and through the Taunsa-Panjnad Link Canal that supplements the water supply to Panjnad head-works canals.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, March 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.