Sahiwal

Sahiwal ساہیوال
Division
Sahiwal
Location of Sahiwal in Punjab.
Country	Pakistan
Province	Punjab
Area
• Total	3,201 km2 (1,236 sq mi)
Elevation	152.4 m (500.0 ft)
Population  (1998)
• Total	1,843,194
Time zone	UTC+5 (PST)
Calling code	040
Website	http://www.sahiwal.gov.pk

Sahiwal (Urdu: ساہیوال) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. This city was a small village on the Karachi-Lahore railway line during 1865 when it was named Montgomery after Sir Robert Montgomery, then Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab. It was given its current name during 1966 after the Sahi clan of Kharal Rajputs who were the inhabitants of this area. It is the administrative centre of Sahiwal District and Sahiwal Division. The districts of Okara and Pakpattan are in Sahiwal division. Sahiwal is approximately 180 km from the major city Lahore. And it is the biggest city between Lahore and Multan. The population is 207,388 (1998 Pakistan Census). Sahiwal District is included in the former Multan Division and is between 30-39 north latitude and 73-06 longitude. The city is in the densely populated region between the Sutlej and Ravi rivers. Irrigation in the region is provided by the Bari Doab Canal system. The principal crops are wheat, cotton, tobacco, legumes, potato and oilseeds. Cotton goods and lacquered woodwork are manufactured. About 18 miles southwest of Sahiwal is Harappa, an ancient city, oldest urban site of Harappan or Indus civilization in South Asia. About 28 miles (45 km) west of Sahiwal, at Kamalia, is the site of a Malli city captured by Alexander the Great during 325 bc. Pop. (1998) city, 207,388. The people of Sahiwal are known as Sahiwalians. This city got its name from the first inhabitants of this city the Sahis of kharal / Jatt origin. Sahis had their first settlement at the place called Yaadgar-e-Sahiwal. When the development was started during British rule in this area during 1865, Sahis moved to Chak No.60-61/G.D. Rai Haji Ali Sher Sahi is a major person amongst the Sahis in this region.

Climate

The climate of Sahiwal district is extreme, reaching 52 °C in summer, and down to 5°C in winter. The soil of the district is very fertile. The average rainfall is about 2000 mm.

Industry

Sahiwal's industries include cotton ginning and pressing, tanning, textile (City cloth palace, City Fashion Center), textile spinning, weaving, leather products, garments, pharmaceuticals, flour mills, food processing, oil mills, cold storage, potato, tobacco, vegetable ghee/cooking oil, biscuits, chip board, confectionery, and woollen textile spinning and weaving. The Sahiwal breed of cattle, recognised as productive among Zebu dairy breeds, originated here; they are found now throughout the tropics. The main crops of the Sahiwal district are wheat, cotton, sugarcane, maize and rice. Main fruits are citrus, mangoes and guava. Sahiwal is a green and fertile town with 11,522 acres (46.63 km²) forests. KSC is an electrical industry in Sahiwal, producing water heaters, water coolers, air coolers, fans and washing machines.

Education

Sahiwal has several educational institutes of quality. But the literacy rate is still low: about 30% overall and 51% in the city of Sahiwal. The Divisional Public School (DPS) and St. Mary's Convent High School are a schools of the city. Other notable schools are Government High School, Govt. High School Urban Area, Comprehensive High School, Government Pilot Higher Secondary School and Junior Model High School. Government Immamia College, Government Postgraduate College (GPGC) and Government College for Men and Women.and it has also a biggest institute of technology(govt.college of technology)GCT (http://gctsahiwal.com/index.htm). Medical & Dental College and COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) are also working. Virtual University has opened a campus in Sahiwal, and offers distance learning programmes. It is situated near the Government College Sahiwal. Baha-u-Deen Zikria University (BZU) sub-campus Sahiwal has been successfully providing several under-graduate and graduate programmes since 2005.

The private sector has a major role in the education system. Schools in this regard are:

The Educators 4(Campuses), Acute Business College ACCA and CAT, The Allied School, The Knowledge School, The Beaconhouse School System, Bloom Field Hall, The City School Pre-Forces Cadet School. Dare-Aqram Model School SCOPE School System Bhagwan Public School Muhammadan Law College Sahiwal Multan Law College Sahiwal The Limit College The Command College Quaid e Azam Polytechnic Institute Quaid e Azam Technology College

Twin city

Sahiwal is twinned with the town of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, North West England. There is a direction sign in Rochdale's town centre pointing in Sahiwal's direction with "Sahiwal 3960 miles" written on it.

Sports

Cricket is the most popular sports in Sahiwal. Sahiwal produced many cricketers like Mushtaq Ahmed,Waqar Younis, Muhammad Zahid, Mustafa Kamal, Manzoor Ilahi, Zahoor Ilahi and Saleem Ilahi. Football is quite popular too. Sahiwal has produced great soccer players like Zaeem Habib, Faizan Habib and Abdullah Habib.

Broadcast media

There are various radio and cable networks broadcasting in the city, such as Sun Rise FM 96 Sahiwal radio and cable networks like Voltas Cable Network, Galaxy Cable Network and Geo Cable network. The main companies providing dial-up internet facilities are BrainNet and CyberNet. World Call Wireless has also started its operation in Sahiwal. World Call provides wireless telephones at low call rates and a wireless internet facility which is much faster than the dial-up service providers in the city. Recently, Wateen Telecom has also opened its office in Sahiwal. Wateen offers landline telephone, cellular phone, HAQ television, high-speed internet and WiMax.

Information super highway

Sahiwal is on the Information superhighway after getting a high speed DSL Internet Facility enabled by Multi Net. Multi Net offer 256kb/s, 512kb/s, 1Mb/s & 2Mb/s shared speed & there is also Wateen Telecom who have started their service with high speed DSL via WIFI. A lot more development is being done in the field of IT and telecoms. Sahiwal is connected with backbone fiber that connects all the major cities of Pakistan. All Govt. Schools in Sahiwal have the latest PIV Based Computer Lab from the Government of Punjab IT and Computer Labs Project. Roughly one million rupees is spent on each lab; these furnished labs contain 16 of the latest PIV (Core 2 Duo) computers, air conditioner, printer and Internet facility. Each lab has dedicated IT staff including an IT Teacher, working on 17 Scale and Lab In charge. The government hopes that this project will improve the IT education standard in Sahiwal. Asia's tallest television broadcaster is located in the city.

Health care

The District Hospital commonly referred to as the Civil Hospital is the largest hospital of Sahiwal. It has a nursing school and also offers different laboratory courses. Many doctors of the city have served their House Jobs here. However adequate medical facilities, especially emergency specialist equipment, are often not available and patients are referred to Lahore (the capital city of the Punjab), which is inconvenient and risky.Now a medical school is openning here and a new hospital is being built which would provide state of art treatments to sahiwalians.

External links

• Sahiwal City website