Mian Channu

Mian Channu
Country	Pakistan
Province	Punjab
Time zone	UTC+5 (PST)

Mian Channu (in Urdu میاں چنوں) (alternate spelling Mian Chunnun) is a city in Punjab province, Pakistan .In the year 1919, it was declared as a notified area Committee and in 1938 as a Town Committee. Its limits were last extended in the year 1950. Since then no extension has been made and the development in the Town from 1947 to 1961 remained slow. It was assigned of Municipal Committee in 1975, as it had grown into small urban centre by that time. After that the Town started developing and major growth has been taking place from 1972 to 1984. But the trend of growth in this period has largely been along G.T Road and in the northern direction. It has been the headquarters of the Mian Channu Tehsil of Khanewal District since 1985 and is administratively subdivided into 3 Union councils. It has approximately 65,000 residents and is located on the Grand Trunk Road (250 km South West of Lahore and 1050 km North East of Karachi) and KLP (Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar) railway line. For a period of more than a century, Mian Channu has been part of District of Multan. With the raising of status of Mian Channu to a Tehsil Headquarter and creation of a new District of Khanewal from Its Jully 1985, Mian Channu Tehsil become a part of the new District of Khanewal. The city is one of the major contributor to agricultural production. Cotton, wheat and mango are the major agricultural products. Punjabi is the spoken language of people. It is also very popular for its property value.

Major crops of the town are wheat , grain, peas, barley are the important crops of Rabi season, while Kharif crops are cotton, sugarcane, jawar, bajra, oil seeds which are shipped by rail and road to other parts of the country.

Etymology

The city was named after a saint, Hazrat Baba Mian Channu (Rehmatallah Alahay) who lived and buried there. There is a folklore about the name that during English rule administration tried to change the name of city. They painted all boards with the new name. But at night somehow the boards changed to back to the original. They tried repeatedly in vain, and since then the name of area is Mian Chunnu.

Educational Institutions

Govt. Model High School and Muslim Union high School are two of the best government schools of this city. Paramount Public Middle School(Reg) st#4 Jatala Town is also a best school.In 2001,a new privately administered,semi-government institution was established under the name of 'Mian Channu Public School'. This institute played a vital role in providing quality education to the citizens of Mian Channu and attracted hundreds of students from surrounding areas as well.It was later upgraded as 'Divisional Public School' and finally as a degree college.Nowadays,it's working under this title but has lost popularity and growth rate rapidly as compared to it's early days due to lacking administrative skills and educational quality as a result of recruitment of teaching staff with the qualifications below the standard merit which once used to be.Another reason of it's declining state is the development of other institutions in this area which are giving it a tough time and new challenges.One of these institutions include a recently established school under the name of 'The Country School' located in Rehman City,Bypass,Mian Channu.This institute is set and monitored by The "Bloomfield Hall School"as being it's Project.The institution is aimed at providing high-quality education at affordable fees.The school has a magnificent building and clean surrounding area.It's a part of the network of "The Country Schools" which are running in several cities of Pakistan and offer education from the reception(foundation)level-O Level/Matriculation.Other growing institutions include the 'British International School' and 'The Educators'.

Hazrat Baba Mian Channu, Rehmatallah Alahay

It is said that during the reign of Sultan Ghias-ud-Din Balban, a young man from “Sonpal Faqirs” leaving the Chenab River Valley took abode on the bank of river Ravi which was covered with thorny bushes all around.There he came across another youth “Majid Jinjus”, of his own type, and got friendly with him. In the end of 1200 A.D when Hazrat Bahawal Haque Zikria along with three other saints returning to Multan after paying respect to “Hazrat Baba Farid-ud-Din Ganj Shakar”, by chance came across those two young men, they later went away to fetch water for Hazrat Bahawal Haque Zikria. When they came back with water, they found that the saints were not there. They started tracing foot steps of about 8 km. Mausoleum of Hazrat Baba Mian Channu Towards western side of present Mian Channu Town. There they were sitting in wilderness. They also found that a spring was flowing there. Seeing that, both at once dropped on the feet of Hazrat Bahawal Haque Zikria. The saint embraced both the young men and prayed to Allah for their guidance and thus they were infused with divine faith. At the same time, the saint also named them as “Mian Channu” and “Majid”. The tomb of saint Mian Channu is beautiful and is an example of early architectural skill.

The city is named after this famous saint, Hazrat Baba Mian Channu (Rehmatallah Alahay), who is buried there and whose shrine still stands there to this day. The legend goes that after the saint's death, the town was incorrectly named and on that night the saint's spirit changed the name on the town sign to the correct spelling. Every day the authorities would change it back and every night the saint would correct it. In the end the people realized this and the town has remained named after Baba Mian Channu ever since.

References

www.facebook.com/mian.channu