History of ganganagar Sri ganganagar also called ganganagar is a northern most city of Rajasthan state of western India. It is the administrative headquarters of ganganagar District. Sri ganganagar is named after the General H.H. Maharajadhiraj Raj-Rajeshwar Narendra Shiromani Maharaja Sir Ganga Singh Bahadur , Maharaja of Bikaner, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., G.B.E., K.C.B., K.I.H.. Sri ganganagar is established as the major plan of irrigating the Erstwhile Bikaner State. Sri ganganagar is situated at the point where the Satluj Waters enters Rajasthan or Erstwhile Bikaner state. The Bikaner state was affected by the worst famine in the year 1899-1900. In order to get rid of this problem permanently, in 1903 Maharaja Sri Ganga Singhji obtained the services of A. W. E. Standley, Chief Engineer, who demonstrated the feasibility of the western area of the Bikaner State being brought under irrigation from the Satluj Waters. The plan of the Satluj Valley Project was drawn by then Chief Engineer of Punjab Mr. R. G. Kennedy according to which the vast area of Erstwhile Bikaner state could be brought under irrigation. But because of objections by the erstwhile State of Bahawalpur, the project got delayed and finally with intervention of then Viceroy of India Lord Curzon in 1906, a Tripartite Conference was held and an agreement was reached and signed on 4 September 1920. The foundation stone of the Canal Head Works at Ferozepur was laid on 5 December, 1925 and the work completed in 1927 by constructing 89 miles of lined canal. The opening ceremony was performed on 26 October 1927 by Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India. The plan for Sri ganganagar was drawn at this time only. And irrigated parts of Bikaner state came under Sri ganganagar district and now parted Hanumangargh District.  City and Layout : Sri ganganagar is one of the well planned mordern cities of India. It is said to be influenced by the town planning of Paris. It is divided into residential blocks and commercial area which includes Dhan Mandi (Agricultural Crop Market Place). Dhan Mandi is adjacent to the Railway Ward for ease of transportation of agricultural crops. Though because of lack of space Dhan Mandi is now shifted to a new location. Residential Blocks have large parks for each Blocks and Community centers and places of worship are at junctions of three or four blocks. Though growth of population has opened gates for unplanned growth all around it, still the Old City area, which is popularly referred as "Block Area", is still the most beautiful part of the city. Economy : Sri ganganagar is a testimony of the vision and efforts of Great Maharaja Ganga Singh Ji. Desert land was converted to a lush green town, credited to the Maharaja who brought the Gang canal which carries the excess waters of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the region, making ganganagar district known as "the food basket of Rajasthan". The economy of the city is based on agriculture, its main crops are Wheat, Mustard and Cotton. Other crops are Guar, Bajra, Sugar Cane and Grams. In recent years farmers are also diverting towards Horticulture, and Kinnu(A Citrus Family fruit) has become a major crop of the area. The industries in the city are mostly based on agriculture. The city has Cotton Ginning and Pressing factories, Mustard Oil mills and Wheat Flour mills and of course the famous Rajasthan State ganganagar Sugar Mills Ltd., which is famous all over the world for its Royal Heritage Liqueurs. It also has spinning and textile Factories. Because of its prosperity from agriculture, ganganagar District also has a large number of automobiles which includes tractors and MUVs and because of the large population of Automobiles in the district, Sri ganganagar has become one of the largest automobile markets in India. Language : Bagri, a dialect of Rajasthani language and Punjabi languages are spoken by majority of population. Besides, Hindi, Seraiki, and Urdu are also in use in this district. The linguistic survey of Bagri was carried our by a team of scholars of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 1993 and it was a major development for linguistic work on Bagri. A lot of research work (given in references) is done on Bagri in recent times. Now, Bagri has a reference grammar, dictionary, primers, and other reference material. The prominent poet on Bagri was Chander Singh "Birkali" who wrote "Loon" and "Badli" poems in the early-twentieth century.The modern Hindi poet is Tribhuvan, who wrote "kuchh is taraha aana." He is a prominent Hindi journalist. Tribhuvan's poetry is characterized by simple, everyday language and images that string together to convey complex themes. One of his major poems is Maa Tum Indira Gandhi Kyon Nahin Ho, a long poem with the Mother as its central character. |
