Malout

Malout
City
National Highway 9 in Malout
Malout Location in Punjab, India
Coordinates: 30°11′24″N 74°29′56″E / 30.190°N 74.499°E / 30.190; 74.499Coordinates: 30°11′24″N 74°29′56″E / 30.190°N 74.499°E / 30.190; 74.499
Country	India
State	Punjab
District	Muktsar
Population (2001)
• Total	70,958
Languages
• Official	Punjabi
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	152107
Telephone code	1637

Malout is a city and a municipal council in Muktsar district in the Indian state of Punjab. Located in southern Punjab, it is a prominent town in the cotton belt where production per unit area is one of the highest in India. Malout is located on NH-9 and NH 7 which connects Fazilka to Mana. The boundaries of Haryana and Rajasthan are just 30 km and 65 km away from Malout. It is only 55 km from Pakistan border. So the area was highly active in emergency time due to military actions. Pincode of Malout is 152107. ^[1]

History

Malout city is four to five centuries old. The origin of the name of Malout city is disputed, but the most famous suggestions are the following:

• Royals of Bajaj caste founded a Fort here, Kacha Kot, leading to popular name Bajaj Fort. With the passage of time people stated calling the city Bajaj Mahal and later Malout.
• After a popular wrestler (Mal) who was very helpful to people, so the name of this city became Maal-di-out then Malout.(his name was actually Oat Mall).
• The British set up a base there to import and export glucose which Indians call normally mal to Karachi. At that time this city was very famous as Mal out centre, so people started calling this city as Malout,
  • Raja Mal was the Janjua Rajputs Chief/King after whose name cities/villages were established in Punjab. Raja Mall was won over by the muslim invaders and was forced to accept Islam in around 800 BC. His companions/soldiers who got escaped, get scattered in Punjab and established villages in the name of their parent village Malot (in Rohtas District of Punjab on the left bank of Jhelum river (Headquarters of Raja Mall now in Pakistan). There is also Malot in Hoshiarpur district established in this series and Malout, in Muktsar District. There is a small fortress in the western side of village malout. It was destroyed still the reasons are unknown, maybe due to some natural calamity or warfare or scarcity of water. People of Gill clan from Gill village in Bathinda and Mann from Dialpura in Sangrur district, Kangs from Bajak near Gidderbaha re-established here during the settlement process by British in 1884-86. People of Godara, Bhadu (From Rajputana), Chhabra, Noi (Bhatti Muslims) and some other clans settled here during British rule. Malout has been a part of Sirsa District of British Punjab in 1884-86. British seized pargna of Malout (129 villages) from Sikh chiefs in 1835. Sarhind Canal system with Abohar branch is irrigating this area since 1885. Well Corporation of India established 3 wells in Malout village. Karachi-Samma Satha-Bathinda Railway line was laid down by Rajputana-Malwa Railway Company in around 1870 to 1895. Railway station at Malout was established and started in the year 1905 which played a vital role in development of this village as a Mandi/City. Godara families constructed their own houses near railway station and then established Mandi Harji Ram in the west of GT Road. Malout town have had two Municipal Committees, One as Edward Ganj Mandi Malout (a private institution) which administered and managed eastern part Pakki Mandi Malout till 1966, when it surrendered its area to Municipal Committee Malout. Eastern part of Malout (Pakki Mandi) was administered by Edward Ganj and Western part (Kachi Mandi) by Municipal Committee, Malout. In a healthy competition, Malout earned a lot. GT Road in Malout is about 220 feer wide and in addition, most of roads/bazars were around 100-150 feet wide and Malout appeared to be a well-planned city. Still most of these wide bazzars and roads, were partially sold and keeping 30 or 20 feet wide in the years around 1997–98 by the Municipal Committee or land mafia.

In 1917, the British government established the Bathinda – Karachi railway line, to transport the goods from this part of India to Karachi. Malout Railway Station was established on the line in 1918. choudhari harji ram of Malout village, one of the richest persons of his time, also more popularly known as the 'king of cotton' of Punjab, established a new town near the railway station at west side, which was called Mandi Harji Raam. (Mandi means small town in Punjab)

With the growth of the area due to trading established by the railways network, other rich people wanted to establish their business base in Malout near the railway station. But Choudhry Harji Ram refused to provide them land in his area, leading to the new Malout establishment coming into existence on 19 March 1920. Under the leadership of Seth Thakar Dass Ahuja, traders from the nearby villages and town established another small town opposite the old town. Thakar Dass Ahuja had five sons, namely Madan Mohan Ahuja, Manohar Lal Ahuja, Balraj Ahuja, Avtar Krishan Ahuja and Ramesh Chander Ahuja. He had several grandchildren including Chand Karan Ahuja & Chand Suneel Ahuja (both sons of Madan Mohan Ahuja), Sandeep Kumar Ahuja (son of Manohar Lal Ahuja), Sanjay Ahuja & Ajay Ahuja (sons of Balraj Ahuja), Gautam Krishan Ahuja & Shalin Ahuja (son of Avtar Ahuja), Amit Ahuja & Sahil Ahuja (sons of Ramesh Chander Ahuja). His grandson Sanjay Ahuja is said to be a prominent American who lives in New York City. Thakar Dass Ahuja's descendants remain one of the most prominent families of Malout. A seven-member committee purchased land of 100 Beghas of Shekhu villages with the cost of 100,000 40 thousand 163 Rs and 38 paisa, which was then divided in a planned and modernised way into shopping and residential areas.

On 17 November 1921, the District Commissioner of Ferozpur District, J. C. Koldsitrimiu, established large water storage and purification tank system in the town. This was the same day when the future King-Emperor Edward VIII came to this part of the India for survey. The new establishment was named in his honour as Edward Ganj Malout Mandi.

With the passage of time, the small town started growing and by the end of 1940 a post office, telephone exchange, guest house, rest house and graveyard Shamshan Bhumi were establsihedd. Because of high cotton cultivation many cotton factories and agricultural machinery industries came into existence in the city and the nearby village area and hence this area was recognised as the cotton capital of Punjab. Just to give more organised form to the association it was renamed the Edward Ganj Public Welfare association in 1942.^[2]

Commerce and industry

Malout is famous for its agriculture equipment manufacturing industry. Agriculture-related equipment made in Malout is sold in various parts of Punjab and nation.

Another major industry in the region is related to high cotton cultivation in the region. Since past few years, cotton-related business has been booming in the region. It is also prominent for apparel. The clothing business dates back centuries in the town. Some of the very vintage establishments like New Fancy Cloth House and daulat ram surinder pal singh (arthia)

It is worth mentioning here that the market for secondhand cars and two-wheelers have grown up to become one of the biggest in the region. The business is generating good revenue for the local automobile workshops and dealers.

Raja Mal was the Janjua Rajputs Chief/King after whose name cities/villages were established. Raja Mall was won over by the muslim invaders and was forced to accept Islam around 800 BC. His companions who got escaped, get scattered in Punjab and established villages in the name of their parent village Malot (in Rohtas District of Punjab on the left bank of Jhelum river (Headquarters of Raja Mall now in Pakistan). There is also Malot in Hoshiarpur district established in this series and Malout, in Muktsar District. There is a small fortress in the western side of village malout. It was destroyed still the reasons are unknown, maybe due to some natural calamity or warfare. People of Gill clan from Gill village in Bathinda and Mann from Dialpura in Sangrur district, Kangs from Bajak near Gidderbaha re-established during the settlement process by British. People of Godara, Bhadu, Chhabra, Noi (Bhatti Muslims) and some other clans settled here during British rule in 1884 as a part of Sirsa District. British seized pargna of Malout (129 villages) from Sikh chiefs in 1835. Sarhind Canal system with Abohar branch is irrigating this area since 1885. Well Corporation of India established 3 wells in Malout village. Karachi-Samma Satha-Bathinda Railway line was laid down by Rajputana-Malwa Railway Company around 1870 to 1895. Railway station at Malout was established in the year 1905 which played a vital role in development of this village as Mandi/City. Malout have had two Municipal Committees, One as Edward Ganj Mandi Malout (a private institution) which administered and managed eastern part Pakki Mandi Malout till 1966 when it surrendered its area to Municipal Committee Malout. Eastern part of Malout (Pakki Mandi) was administered by Edward Ganj and Western part (Kachi Mandi) by Municipal Committee, Malout. In a healthy competition, Malout earned a lot, Most of roads/bazars were around 150 feet wide. Most these wide bazars and roads, were sold and keeping it 30 or 25 feet wide around 1997–98 by the Municipal Committee or land mafia.

List of major villages

The following villages fall under tehsil (zone) Malout:^[3]

Climate

There is wide seasonal temperature variation in Malout area. In summers the temperature reaches as high up as 48–50 °C and in winters as low as 1–2 °C. The Western Himalayas in the north and the Thar Desert in the south and southwest mainly determine the climate conditions. The south-western monsoon brings the much needed rain bearing depression during summer (July to September). Nearly 70% of rainfall is during these months. The major part of the district qualifies for aridic (tropic) moisture regime according to the criteria laid down in soil taxonomy. Soil moisture regime computations employing the Newhall mathematical model indicate that the area has a 'weak aridic' moisture regime (Van Wambeke, 1985). In the aridic (torric) moisture regime, the moisture control section in most of the year is dry in all parts for more than half the time (cumulative).

Education

The city has a government engineering college named Malout Institute of Management and Information Technology, a private engineering college named Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa Institute of Engineering & Technology, Government Senior Secondary School (Boys) and Government Senior Secondary School (Girls). There are many English medium private schools in the city. D.A.V. Edward Ganj Senior Secondary Public School is the best and one of the oldest school of the town. This school has shown a great number of better results than the other ones.Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa Senior Secondary School & S.D.Senior Secondary School are the oldest private schools,while Sacred Heart Convent School is the premier school following ICSE curriculum. The city also has DAV College which offers various Graduation and Post Graduation Courses.

N G O Malout

• Sri Saraswati Jyotish Manch
• Mata Anguri Devi Smajsewi Sanstha
• Guru Nanak mission(Regd) malout
• Shri Mahavir Goshala or Gaushala (www.goshala.org)
• Shah Satnam ji Green welfare force
• Bharat Vikas Prishad
• Youth cultrual & sports club
• Lions Club
• Shri Krishan Bhagwan gaushala
• Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Welfare Society
• Aashirwad Jansewa Samiti
• Sehyog jansewa Sanstha
• Akasdeep Yadgari Samaj Sewa Simiti (Reg.) Malout Reg. 4365
• Parminder Yadgari Sports Club
• Sahara Sewa
• Guru Gobind Singh Mission
• Malout Seeds & Pesticides Club,Malout
• Trineter Amarnath Barfani Sewa Mandal (Reg.) Malout
• Khalsa dharam parchar committee (Regd)
• Dhuria Dairy..Sec 4 Malout
• Bhagat Singh Youth Club (Regd.)
• Baba Amar Nath Sewa Dal (Reg.) Malout
• Youth Welfare and Sports Club (Reg)Malout (V)
• Malout Club
• Shri Balaji Salasar Niswarth Sewa.

President Prem Jangid

• The Malout Handicapped Welfare Society (Regd.)Malout President. Vikramjeet
• Sardarian Youth Cheritable Trust Shri Muktsar sahib Head office Malout president Baldev Singh Sahiwal

Religious places

Religious places in Malout:

1. Sri Nav Durga Bhawan Mandir Mata Anguri Devi (Regd.)
2. Gurudwara Singh Sabha
3. Peer Khana
4. Gurudwara Bhai Jagta Ji
5. Hanuman Mandir
6. Shri Krishna Mandir
7. Sant Nirankari Bhawan
8. Shri Baba Ram Dev Mandir
9. ShriGuru Ravidas Mandir
10. shri shani dev mandir
11. Shri Balaji Salasar Niswarth sewa

Politics and administration

Ajaib Singh Bhatti is MLA of Malout Constituency elected in 2017. Prior to this S Harptreet Singh Kotbhai represented this assembly constituency.

Notable People

• Rohit Bansal CEO & Co-Founder Snapdeal

Engineering Colleges

There are two Engineering Colleges in Malout, Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa Institute of Engineering & Technology, Chhapianwali, Malout and other is Malout Institute of Management and Information Technology.

References