Rawalpindi Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Rawalpindi Town
Head-quarters of the Division, District, and tahsil of Rawalpindi, Punjab, situated in 33 36' N. and 73 7' E., on the North-Western Railway and the grand trunk road, on the north
1 These include the figures for the three tahsils of Attock, Fatahjang, and Pmdi Gheh, bincc traiisfeired to Attotk District. bank of the Leh river, a muddy, sluggish stream, flowing between precipitous banks, and separating the town from the cantonment, distant by rail 1,443 miles from Calcutta, 1,479 fr m Bombay, and 908 from Karachi, The population, including cantonments, at the last three enumerations was (1881) 52,975, (1891) 73,795, and (1901) 87,688, including 40,807 Muhammadans, 33,227 Hindus, 6,302 Sikhs, 6,278 Chustians, and 1,008 Jams. The present town is of quite modern origin; but Sir Alexander Cunningham identified certain ruins on the site of the cantonment with the ancient city of Gajipur or Gajnipur, the capital of the Bhatti tribe in the ages preceding the Christian era Graeco-Bactrian coins, together with ancient bricks, occur over an area of 2 squaie miles, Known within historical times as Fatehpur Baon, Rawalpindi fell into decay during one of the Mongol invasions in the fourteenth century Jhanda Khan, a Gakhar chief, restored the town 'and gave it its present name. Sardar Milka Singh, a Sikh adventurer, occupied it in 1765, and invited traders from the neighbouring commercial centres of Jhelum and Shahpur to settle in his territory Early in the nineteenth century Rawalpindi became for a time the refuge of Shah Shuja, the exiled king of Kabul, and of his brother Shah Zaman. The present native infantry lines mark the site of a battle fought by the Gakhars undei their famous chief Sultan Mukarrab Khan in the middle of the eighteenth century.
It was at Rawalpindi that, on Maich 14, 1849, the Sikh army undei Chattar Singh and Sher Singh finally laid down their arms after the battle of Gujrat. On the introduction of British rule, Rawalpindi became the site of a cantonment, and shortly afterwards the head-quarters of a Division , while its connexion with the mam railway system by the extension of the North- Western Railway to Peshawar immensely de- veloped both its size and commercial importance. The municipality was created in 1867 The income and expenditure during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged 2-1 lakhs In 1903-4 the income and expenditure were 1-8 lakhs and 2-1 lakhs lespectively. The chief item of income was octroi (1-6 lakhs) ; and the expenditure included administration (Rs. 35,000), conservancy (Rs 27,000), hospitals and dispensaries (Rs. 25,000), public works (Rs 9,000), and public safety (Rs. 17,000). The cantonment, with a population in 1901 of 40,611, is the most important in India. It contains one battery of horse and one of field artillery, one mountain battery, one company of garrison artillery, and one ammunition column of field artillery , one regiment of British and one of Native cavalry , two of British and two of Native infantry f and t\\o companies of sappers and miners, with a balloon section. It is the winter head quarters of the Northern Command, and of the Rawalpindi military division An arsenal was established here in 1883. The income and expenditure from cantonment funds during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs 96,000 and Rs. 93,000 respectively The chief educational institutions are the Government normal school, the Gordon Arts college maintained by the American United Presbyterian Mission, and five aided Anglo-vernacular high schools. The cantonment also contains an English and several Anglo- vernacular middle schools, and an English convent school for girls The town has a civil hospital, with two branch dispensaries. Rawal- pindi has a large carrying trade with Kashmir The principal factories are the North- Western Railway locomotive and carnage works, where the number of employes in 1904 was 1,455 > an d the arsenal, which in the same yeai gave employment to 569 persons. Besides these, the Rawalpindi gas-works had 170 employes , a branch of the Murree Brewery, 200, a tent factory, 252,, an iron foundry, 123^ and four smaller factories an aggregate of 150 employes. The horse fair held by the District board in April is one of the largest in the Punjab. There are branches of the Alliance Bank of Simla and of the Commercial Bank of India in the cantonment.
Krishna temple
2018: expansion
Pakistan state’s govt releases Rs 20 million to revamp temple, May 21, 2018: The Times of India
Pakistan’s Punjab province government has released Rs 20 million to renovate a Krishna temple in Rawalpindi city and expand it to accommodate more Hindu worshippers on festivals and religious occasions, a media report said.
Mohammad Asif, the Evacuee Trust Property Board deputy administrator, said the government has released Rs 20 million to reconstruct the temple at the request of a member of provincial assembly, Dawn reported.
He said reconstruction work would begin soon. “The main room where idols are kept will be sealed until reconstruction ends. Once reconstructed, the temple will be able to accommodate more people,” Asif was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Krishna temple is the only functioning Hindu temple in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Local Hindus have long-demanded that the temple area should be expanded. Jag Mohan Arora, a local, said the temple courtyard can accommodate only around 100 people at present.
