Two Senior Punjab Ministers Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwaand Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa today demanded that Batala should be created as24 district of Punjab to honour the wish of the people and overall developmentof this area.
In a letter to Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh,they underscored that Batala was a historic town but did not deserve the focusit deserved.
The two ministers also said along with this, the historic towns of Fatehgarh Churian and Sri Hargobindpur or Ghuman should be madenew sub-divisions of this new district.
They pointed out that Batala was an important city ofPunjab with which rich historical, religious, social and literary heritage isassociated. Batala was the oldest city of Punjab after Bathinda which wasfounded in 1465 and also the eighth largest city in the state in terms ofpopulation where a Municipal Corporation was formed last year.
Stressing upon the historical heritage of Batala, theysaid, "Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first Guru, was married to Mata Sulakhni inthis city on July 8, 1487. Gurdwara Dera Sahib and Gurdwara Kandh Sahib areadorned in his memory. Guru Hargobind, the sixth master, also came to Batala tomarry his son Baba Gurditta and in his memory Gurdwara Sat Kartaria is adornedin the middle of the city.
Both theMinisters said that Batala was an important city of the Sikh Empire afterLahore and Amritsar during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
They said that apart from the historic Kali Dwara Mandirand Sati Lakshmi Devi Samadh, near this city is the historic site of AchalSahib where Achaleshwar Dham is adorned in the memory of Lord Shiva's sonKartik. Guru Nanak Dev Ji also interacted with Sidhs at this historic place.
Theministers said, "From a cultural and literary point of view, there is no Punjabiacross the globe who has not heard the name of the great Punjabi poet ShivKumar who added Batalvi to his name thereby adding to its eminence. The latepoet is known in the literary field as Birha's poet and Punjabi's Keats."