Toba Tek Singh District

Infobox Pakistan district
district = Toba Tek Singh District
area =
population = 1,621,593
pop_year = 1998
density =
caption =
region = Punjab
established =
nazim = Abdul Sattar Chaudhary
naib_nazim = Muhammad Khalid Sardar [ [http://www.nrb.gov.pk/lg_election/results.asp?state=1 Zila Nazims & Naib Zila Nazims in the Province of Punjab] ]
seats =
tehsils = 3
languages =
website =

Toba Tek Singh (Urdu: ٹوبہ ٹیک سنگھ, Gurmukhi: ਟੋਬਾ ਟੇਕ ਸਿੰਘ) is a district in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located between 30º33' to 31º2' Degree north latitudes and 72º08' to 72º48' Degree longitudes. [http://www.tobateksingh.gov.pk Official Government website of Toba Tek Singh] ]

History

Origins of Name

The town and district is named after a Sikh religious figure Tek Singh. Legend has it that Mr. Singh a kind hearted man served water and provided shelter to the worn out and thirsty travellers passing by a small pond ("TOBA" in Punjabi) which eventually was called Toba Tek Singh, and the surrounding settlement acquired the same name. There is also a park here named after the Sardar Toba.

British Raj

Toba Tek Singh was developed by the British toward the end of the 18th Century when a canal system was built. People from all over the Punjab (currently Indian and Pakistani Punjab) moved there as farmlands were allotted to them. Most of the people who migrated there belonged to Lahore, Jalandhar, Sadiq Abad districts.

The Imperial Gazetteer of India described the tehsil of Toba Tek Singh as follows:

"Tahsil of the new Lyallpur District, Punjab, lying between 30°50' and 31°23' N. and 72° 20' and 72°54' E., with an area of 865 square miles. The population in 1906 was 148,984. It contains 342 villages, including Toba Tek Singh (population, 1,874), the head-quarters, and GOJRA (2,589), an important grain market on the Wazirabad-Khanewal branch of the North-Western Railway. The land revenue and cesses in 1905-6 amounted to 4.7 lakhs. The tahsil consists of a level plain, wholly irrigated by the Chenab Canal. The soil, which is very fertile in the east of the tahsil, becomes sandy towards the west. The boundaries of the tahsil were somewhat modified at the time of the formation of the new District of Lyallpur" [ [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V23_412.gifToba Tek Singh - Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 23, p. 406.] ]

After Independence

During 1970's, when many Pakistani cities were renamed to change names given after British Rulers to their original or native names or more acceptable names to local population like Montgomery was renamed to its old original name Sahiwal, Toba Tek Singh remained one of the very few cities to maintain it's original name mainly because of reputation of Tek Singh. In 1982 Toba Tek Singh, formerly a subdivision, was separated from Faisalabad District and became a separate district.

Demography

Toba Tek Singh is located in central Punjab and occupies 3252 square kilometres and is made up of large areas of lowlands that flood frequently during the rainy season; the floods originate from the Ravi River that runs along the southern and southeastern borders. The Pre-partition T.T.Singh had a sizeable Sikh population which migrated to Indian Punjab in 1947.

According to the 1998 census of Pakistan the population was 805,580 of this, 520,601 were Muslim and 284,979 were non-Muslim (mainly Christian). [ [http://www.tobateksingh.gov.pk/default.asp District Stats - District Government of Toba Tek Singh] ] According to the 2008 estimate the population had risen to 1.39 million. [ [http://www.dawn.com/weekly/herald/herald38.htm District Profile: Central Punjab- Toba Tek Singh] ]

Administration

The district of Toba Tek Singh is administratively subdivided into three tehsils and 82 Union Council [ [http://www.nrb.gov.pk/lg_election/union.asp?district=33&dn=Toba%20Tek%20Singh Tehsils & Unions in the District of Toba Tek Singh - Government of Pakistan] ] :