Balachaur

Balachaur
—  city  —
Coordinates
Country	India
State	Punjab
District(s)	Nawanshahr
Population	18,106 (2001)
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)

Balachaur (Punjabi:ਬਲਾਚੌਰ) is a teshil town and a nagar panchayat in Nawanshahr district in the state of Punjab, India.Birth place of Choudhary Rahmat Ali (founder of word PAKISTAN) and was barrister at law in England.

File:Img111.jpg==History== In 16th century a Kachwaha Rajput named Raj Dev along with his family came here. He was related with the family of the King of Jaipur. He started meditating here and named this place after the name of his son Balraj as Balachaur. Raj dev died in 1596. People made his tomb here and worshiped him as Baba Balraj. A committee named as "Balraj Mandir Committee" was created in 1949 and its President was Zaildar Balwant Singh. Present President is Rana Purshotam Singh. In 1539 Sher-Shah-Suri before attacking Himayun took the blessing of Raj Dev.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Balachaur had a population of 18,106. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Balachaur has an average literacy rate of 68%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 56% of the males and 44% of females literate. 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Balachaur being the tehsil, is very important place for the many villages it covers. It has the Punjab Government offices which serve the villagers for their needs. Due to absence of any college in Balacahur people are suffered for higher education.

Commerce

There is no big industry or industrial zone in Balachaur. Main source of income for villagers is Agriculture, wheat and Maize being the two main crops. most people who are not staying in villages are working in government or private sectors, their office being located in Nawanshahr, Ropar ,ludhaina and Chandigarh. There is a big market which serves the people of nearby villages and also there is a big grain market(anaaj mandi) where the field produce is sold at market rates.Balachaur is a beautiful place surrounded by foothills of shivaliks on one side , river SATLUJ on other. There is also one (only one) cinema hall in Balachaur which is located near the grain market, its called KC cinema where latest Hindi and Punjabi movies are screened.

Recent years has seen some marvellous growth in terms of no. of shops, opening up of many English speaking schools, Internet cafes, Wine shops etc. but on a broader term nothing substantial has changed for Balachaur and its people. There is still no Bus Depot, no big name industry being set up and most importantly lack of a good higher education institute in the area. There are however many private educational institute opened up mostly Modern Schools and Engineering colleges.round about 25-30 km away from balachaur (Engineering colleges).

A College is opened named Baba Balraj Govt. College in 2011 on Bhaddi road. Which is under construction but classes started. It is also near to Bains Charitable Hospital.

Transport

Balachaur is well connected by road transport to all the major cities in Punjab. It is on the main highway to Jallandhar and other highway which goes to Pathankot/Jammu. Nearest Railway station is Garhshankar and nearest Airport is Chandigarh. From Balachaur there are buses (both private and public) are available for passengers to go to major cities of Punjab as well as of Himachal, Haryana and Delhi. Also for going to nearby villages there are various modes of transport available. Balachaur as a tehsil situated right between the equal distance of nawanshahr(20km)-roper(25km)-garshankar(25km)-nurpur bedi(24km) and same in between ludhiana (70km), chandigarh(68km), hoshiarpur(70km), anandpur sahib(68km), jalandhar(75km). It is situated 320 km from Delhi.

References

• District Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar: Cities and Towns