Ahmedgarh
|
Ahmedgarh Dhaliwal |
|
|---|---|
| city | |
 Ahmedgarh
|
|
| Coordinates: 30°40′41″N 75°49′37″E / 30.678°N 75.827°ECoordinates: 30°40′41″N 75°49′37″E / 30.678°N 75.827°E | |
| Country |
 India
|
| State | Punjab |
| District | Sangrur |
| Area | |
| • Total | 6 km2 (2 sq mi) |
| Population (2015) | |
| • Total | 40,000 |
| • Density | 6,700/km2 (17,000/sq mi) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Punjabi |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| Telephone code | 01675 |
| Vehicle registration | PB 28/13 |
Ahmedgarh was founded by Sardar Bhadur Singh Dhaliwal son of Maharaja Baghel Singh Dhaliwal. It is a city and a municipal council in Sangrur district in the Indian state of Punjab. Ahmedgarh (earlier Bhadurgarh) is given the status of Tehsil in November 2016, which was earlier a sub-tehsil of Malerkotla tehsil. Later, in 1905, an exchange between the Nawab of Malerkotlata, Ahmed Ali Khan, and the Dhurkot family a bit of land was given to the Nawab to establish the town's first railway station hence the name of the town was changed to Ahmedgarh after his highness. It lies about 18 km north of Malerkotla on the Sangrur-Ludhiana road. It is 50 km from Sangrur, the district headquarters, 26 km from Ludhiana and 98 km from Chandigarh. It is a railway station on the Ludhiana-Jakhal railway line.
Ahmedgarh is an example of pre-independence town planning. It was planned as a market town on the model of Lyallpur (Faisalabad) in Pakistan. The planning consisted of a cross-axis of two main avenues along which auctioning, vending and storage of agricultural and agriculture related goods took place. The four quadrants thus formed constituted the residential quarters for the people. The town was enclosed by a 'Fasil', a brick arched wall with only four manned entry points for security. Further, each of the four 'mohallas' are accessed via one of the two gated structures from the main avenues. At the intersection of the two avenues was a public well, which has lately been covered. This is the Gandhi chowk today. The plots abutting the market avenues were 16 feet wide and ranging from 150 to 240 feet in length. All of them had to comply with a fixed design for the facade, which was in the form of three mughal arches, thus forming a regimented colonnade on both sides of the avenues. Sardar Bhadur Singh Dhaliwal's decedents presently reside in Ahmedgharh.
At a later stage, the avenues were split into two with shops being constructed along the median, hence forming the 8 streets intersecting at Gandhi Chowk. Presently, the wide avenues have been encroached upon from both sides, and only a few buildings retain the arched facade, often found behind several rooms from the entrance to the building.
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Wikipedia