Two Senior Punjab Ministers Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa today demanded that Batala should be created as 24 district of Punjab to honour the wish of the people and overall development of this area.
In a letter to Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, they underscored that Batala was a historic town but did not deserve the focus it deserved.
The two ministers also said along with this, the historic towns of Fatehgarh Churian and Sri Hargobindpur or Ghuman should be made new sub-divisions of this new district.
They pointed out that Batala was an important city of Punjab with which rich historical, religious, social and literary heritage is associated. Batala was the oldest city of Punjab after Bathinda which was founded in 1465 and also the eighth largest city in the state in terms of population where a Municipal Corporation was formed last year.
Stressing upon the historical heritage of Batala, they said, "Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first Guru, was married to Mata Sulakhni in this city on July 8, 1487. Gurdwara Dera Sahib and Gurdwara Kandh Sahib are adorned in his memory. Guru Hargobind, the sixth master, also came to Batala to marry his son Baba Gurditta and in his memory Gurdwara Sat Kartaria is adorned in the middle of the city.
Both the Ministers said that Batala was an important city of the Sikh Empire after Lahore and Amritsar during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
They said that apart from the historic Kali Dwara Mandir and Sati Lakshmi Devi Samadh, near this city is the historic site of Achal Sahib where Achaleshwar Dham is adorned in the memory of Lord Shiva's son Kartik. Guru Nanak Dev Ji also interacted with Sidhs at this historic place.
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The ministers said, "From a cultural and literary point of view, there is no Punjabi across the globe who has not heard the name of the great Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar who added Batalvi to his name thereby adding to its eminence. The late poet is known in the literary field as Birha's poet and Punjabi's Keats."