Batala club
The history of the town Gurdaspur, the district headquarter,dates back to early seventeenth century. The town was named after Guriaji who bought the village and named after himself. Guriaji was a Sanwal Brahmin, who once lived in Paniar, a village five miles to the north of Gurdaspur. Guriaji had two sons - Shri Naval Rai and Shri Palaji. Shri Naval Rai's son Sahib Deep Chand was a contemporary of sixth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Gurdaspur is also connected with the activities of Banda Bahadur who was captured by the Mughal from the fortress of Gurdas Nangal in the month of December, 1715.
The Gurdaspur town was made the District Headquarter on 1st May, 1852 of newly formed Gurdaspur District (first named Adinanagar District). Gurdaspur is situated slightly on the north of latitude 32 Degree N and longitude 75 Degree E. Climatically it has all the peculiarities of sub mountainous tract, bracing winter, mild summer and annual rainfall of 35". Gurdaspur is directly connected both by rail and road with Pathankot in the North-East and Amritsar in the South-West from which it is 36 Kms. and 72 Kms. respectively. It falls on the Amritsar-Batala-Pathankot section of the Ferozepur Division of Northern Railway and also the Amritsar-Batala-Pathankot road, both of which run all through side by side. Gurdaspur has 'A' class municipal committee and according to census of 1991, the population of the town is 54733 & is spread over 10.85 sq.km. area.
The present district of Gurdaspur came into existence in April 1849,after annexation of Punjab by the British. Mr.C.B.Saunders was directed to form a new district which should include two-thirds of Bari Doab-North of Amritsar. This district which covered the head of Upper Bari Doab had an area of 1826 sq. miles in the early twentieth century, with its four Tehsils of Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Batala and Shakargarh.
The new district was created in 1849 with its headquarters first at Dinanagar and then at Batala. Gurdaspur was made the District Headquarters on 1st May, 1852. In 1859, Gurdaspur alongwith Sialkot was placed in the new Division of Sialkot. But in 1884, Gurdaspur alongwith Amritsar again become a part of the Lahore Division. Mr.H.P.Fane was the first Deputy Commissioner of Gurdaspur. The fate of Gurdaspur hung in balance for many days during the partition of 1947.
The territory of Gurdaspur District was a Muslim majority area and according to the notional division, it was to be a part of Pakistan. Mr.Mushtaq Ahmed Cheema was the Deputy Commissioner of Gurdaspur from 14th August,1947 to 17th August 1947. But Cyrill Redcliffe, the Chairman of Boundary Commission awarded the District minus Shakargarh Tehsil to India. Almost entire hilly region of Gurdaspur including the famous hill resort of Dalhousie was given to Himachal Pradesh as a result of re-organisation of Punjab in 1966. Two new Tehsils of Dera Baba Nanak and Dhar Kalan were created in 1995 and 1996 respectively.
The District Gurdaspur now consists of five Tehsils and is spread over on area of 3570 sq.kms. According to the census of 1991, the population of Gurdaspur District is 17,57,808. The climate of Gurdaspur District is more temperate than in the Central Punjab, and the district benefits largely by its proximity to the hills to which it owes not only much of its normally constant rainfalls but also the cool breezes which even in the hottest months frequently blow down from the upper ranges. The backward district of Gurdaspur which has literacy rate of about 62% was adopted for total literacy campaign during the year 1997-98.
Gurdaspur, which is a border district of the state, has played a significant role in the defense of the country. Batala and Dhariwal are important industrial centers known respectively for the manufacture of machine tools and woolen products. Dera Baba Nanak and Sri Hagobindpur have great religious sanctity and Pathankot - a great tourist transit center has a number of picnic spots nearby.
