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Pathankot district
District of Punjab
Dhar Kalan, Pathankot - The Mini Goa of Punjab
Location in Punjab
Coordinates: 32°16′01″N 75°38′36″E / 32.266814°N 75.643444°E / 32.266814; 75.643444
Country	India
State	Punjab
Named for	Pathania Rajput
Headquarters	Pathankot
Government
•  Deputy commissioner	Sh. Ramveer
•  Senior Superintendent of Police	R.K. Bakshi (PPS)
•  Member of Parliament	Sunny Deol
Area [1]
• Total	929 km2 (359 sq mi)
Population  (2011) [1]
• Total	676,598
• Density	730/km2 (1,900/sq mi)
Languages
• Regional	Punjabi, Hindi, English
Time zone	UTC+5:30 ( IST)
Vehicle registration	PB-35 / PB-68
Largest City	Pathankot
Website	https://pathankot.nic.in

Pathankot district is the northernmost district of the Indian state of Punjab. Pathankot is the district headquarters. The district was created on July 27, 2011.

Etymology

The original name of Pathankot was Paithan during Mughal times, which is in turn believed to be a derivative of Sanskrit Pratisthana [[ later Paithan was retrieved again by Chandravanshi Rajput clan Pathania “meaning No Pathans” and named Pathankot ]] ^[2].The suffix 'kot' stands for fort.

Geography

Pathankot is located in the foothills of the Sivalik Hills. It shares international borders with the Narowal District of Pakistan's Punjab. It also shares borders with the Kathua District of Jammu and Kashmir and the Chamba and Kangra districts of Himachal Pradesh. Hoshiarpur district shares a boundary with Pathankot in Eastern Punjab. The two main rivers, – the Beas and the Ravi, pass through the district.

The district today

In the past, It was a Tehsil of the district of Gurdaspur. The present district was formed, as the 22nd district of the state on July 27, 2011. ^{[3] [4]} Pathankot includes the two sub-divisions of Pathankot and Dhar Kalan and the two sub-tehsil of Narot Jaimal Singh and Bamial ^[4]

Pathankot has gone through a large number of changes and developments. It is also called as the gateway to Himachal Pradesh and J&K states. Ranjit Sagar Dam, the Pride of Punjab, has been emerged about 30 km. north-east of the town. Mamoon, a suburb of Pathankot, is heading towards the biggest army cantonment in Asia. Pathankot already has an Air Force Station and will be coming on the air map of India very shortly. Surprisingly enough, the town is totally devoid of any monumental evidence to speak of its rich past except for a high ridge called Shimla Pahari, where the historical fort once existed, and some part of the rouni around the Gulmohar Tourist Complex. A number of various buildings, such as the PWD Rest House. Gulmohar Tourist Complex, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Municipal Library, Lal Bahadur Shastri Park, the Relay center of Doordarshan, and an office of the central PWD are located at the site of the Fort.

City and towns

There are two statutory Cities Pathankot and Sujanpur in this district. The district also has 12 census towns, according to census 2011 which are listed below: ^[5]

• Sujanpur ( City Municipal Council)
• Pathankot ( City Municipal Corporation)
• Jugial (Township)
• Narot Jaimal Singh (Nagar Panchayat)
• Narot Mehra (Town)
• Mamun (Pathankot Urban)
• Manwal (Town)
• Sarna (Pathankot Urban)
• Bungal (Rural Town)
• Malikpur (Pathankot Urban)
• Dunera (Town)
• Dhar Kalan (Town)
• Madhopur (Pathankot Urban)
• Gharota (Rural Town)
• Dhaki (Town)
• Daulatpur (Town)
• Jhakolari (Town)
• Kamini (Settlement)
• Mirthal (Town)
• Taragarh (Rural Town)

Other villages and settlements

• Abadgarh
• Kataruchak
• Mirthal, Near Beas river (Last town of Pathankot district)

Demographics

At the time of the 2011 census, the area that would become Pathankot district had a population of 676,598. Out of these 378,432 were rural and 298,166 urban. Pathankot has a sex ratio of 860 females per 1000 males. Scheduled Castes are 207,032 (30.60%) of the population. ^[6]

Religion in Pathankot District ^[a]

Religion	Population (1941) [8]: 60–61	Percentage (1941)	Population (2011) [7]	Percentage (2011)
Hinduism [b]	83,330	54.42%	598,237	88.42%
Islam	59,548	38.89%	14,317	2.12%
Sikhism	7,580	4.95%	52,858	7.81%
Christianity	2,307	1.51%	7,292	1.08%
Others [c]	369	0.24%	3,894	0.57%
Total Population	153,134	100%	676,598	100%

At the time of the 2011 census, 89.86% of the population spoke Punjabi, 5.30% Hindi and 1.20% Dogri as their first language. ^[9] The dialect is in between Kangri and Dogri, the two neighbouring languages.

Politics

Pathankot district is part of the Pathankot Assembly Constituency.

Notable people

• Shaheed Ram Singh Pathania (Rajput Warrior & Freedom Fighter) ^[10]
• Ashwani Kumar Sharma (MLA)
• Seema Kumari (Ex MLA)
• Siddarth Kaul (Cricketer)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pathankot district.

• Pathankot tehsil map, Maps of India, retrieved 31 July 2019