Bahawalnagar (Punjab)

 

Bahawalnagar is located at the distance of 260 km from Lahore near the border between India and Pakistan on the western side of the Sutlej River. It was formally part of princely Bahawalpur State. It is accessible on the G. T. Road by turning on left to Sahiwal - Arifwala Road in Sahiwal city.

Its old name was Rojanwali and new name Bahawalnagar was called in 1904 after Bahawal Khan V, the ruler of the Bahawalpur State.

Bahawalnagar is bounded by Bahawalpur, Okara, Pakpattan, and Vehari districts. It is also connected with Rajasthan in India. It is also connected with railway to other cities of Pakistan, as it was an important railway junction before independence in 1947.

Bahawalnagar Railway Station was an important railway junction before partition. It was busy junction between Bahawalnagar and Bhatinda, used by trains from Karachi to Delhi. The building of railway station is attractive with beautiful roof with domes.

Shrine of Tajauddin Chishti is located in the village of Chishtian. Sheikh Khawaja Tajuddin Chishti, also known as Taj Sarwar Chisthi, was a sufi saint of Chishti order. He was a grandson of Sheikh Farid-ud-din Ganjshakar in Pakpattan. From the Niazi Bus Terminal on the main Bahawalpur-Bahawalnagar road, a small road leads toward the shrine of Tajauddin Chishti.

Hakra civilization covers an area over the dried out channel of a river near Fort Abbas that is the part of the Ghagger River in India. The Sutlej River changed its path about eight to ten thousand years ago, leaving the Ghaggar-Hakra as monsoon fed rivers and changed the area in the Thar Desert. For Abbas is the center point of the ancient Hakra civilization dated 5000 BC.

Mahal Nagar Mal is a beautiful historical haveli in the middle of Minchinabad town at a distance of 35 km from Bahawalnagar city on Minchinabad-Bahawalnagar Road. It was constructed in 1930 by two brothers Nagar Mal and Bhajan Lal. It is a private property of the Sukhera family, one can visit with their permission.

Fort Marot is located at the border of India and Pakistan in the town of Marot in Bahawalnagar at a distance of 50 km from Fort Abbas. In the town of Marot, there are some other important forts such as Jaamgarh, Meergarh, and Mojgarh. Meergarh is a beautiful fort in the sand dunes of the Cholistan Desert in Marot town. Now-a-days, all of these forts are in bad condition due to environmental conditions and erosion facts. If Government does not take any serious action in restoration of these fort, then they will be vanished within next few years.

Most of the Bahawalnagar areas are famous for agriculture, mainly for wheat and sugarcane, and cotton. There are also important industries such as textile spinning, sugar manufacturing, etc. Canals from the Sulemanki headworks are used to irrigate the vast land of Bahawalnagar for agriculture. Due to this water, most of the desert area becomes fertile land producing various crops.

Due to the Cholistan Desert, the climate of Bahawalnagar is very much hot in summer and mild in winter. The temperature rises above 50 centigrade in the summer season.