Geography

INTRODUCTION:

“Rajanpur” has been named after its Headquarter town, Rajanpur, which was founded by a Sheikh Rajan Shah in 1732-33. The new District of Rajanpur was carved out of the old D.G Khan district. Rajanpur comprises of the old Tehsils of Jampur and Rajanpur. Rojhan area of the former Rajanpur Tehsil was converted into the 3rd Tehsil of the district. The tribal areas, along the foothill of the Sulaiman Range, of the D.G Khan were also partitioned and the Southern parts of the said Tribal areas now form the Tribal area of  Rajanpur District.

ADMINISTRATIVE BACKGROUND:

In 1849, the British Forces won the decisive war against the Sikh ruling in the area of Dear Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur. The Britishers declared Dera Ghazi Khan as a district and divided it into following four Tehsils.

  1. Dera Ghazi Khan
  2. Sanghar
  3. Dajal
  4. Kot Mithan

          In 1856, the drastic flood of Indus River devastated the whole city of Kot Mithan. The Britishers shifted the Tehsil Head Quarter to Rajanpur by abolishing Tehsil Kot Mithan through a notification. Mr.A.A Munro was the last Assistant Commissioner of Kot Mithan who also took over the charge of first Assistant Commissioner of Rajanpur Tehsil in 1856. Later Britishers changed the Tehsil Head Quarter from Sanghar to Taunsa and Tehsil Dajal to Jampur.

Rajanpur District was created on the 1st of July, 1982 as a result of a general policy of the Government of Pakistan to provide opportunities of organization and development to backward areas.

LOCATION:

          The district lies entirely west of the Indus River. it is a narrow, 32 kilometres (20 mi) to 64 kilometres (40 mi) wide strip of land sandwiched between the Indus River on the east and the Sulaiman Mountains on the west. It is located at Latitude 29o06’12” N and Longitude 70o19’30” E. It is remotely placed and is 736 kilometers away from the sea coast of Karachi. Its distance from North Pole is 6779 km, distance from South Pole is 13259 km and distance from the Equator is 3240 km. Its elevation from Sea Level is 97 m (378ft). However, the Marri Peak in the Sulaiman Range in Tehsil Jampur is 5,385 ft above sea level.

BOUNDARY:

          Rajanpur is situated in the South of the Punjab Province. To its South-west is Baluchistan and in the South is Sindh. The Foothills of Sulaiman Range cover almost the entire Western boundary of the district. To the East of the district flows River Indus. District wise Rajanpur is bounded in the North and North-west by D.G.Khan, in the South by Jaccobabad, in the South-west by Loralai and Murree-Bugti district and in the East across the River Indus and Muzaffargarh and Rahim Yar Khan District.

https://rajanpur.punjab.gov.pk/system/files/Screenshot%202023-01-13%20212614.jpg 

AREA:

          The total area of district (including the tribal area) measured in acres is 28,57,758 (11,665 km2). Sub Division wise breakup is as follows.

Sr. #

Name of Tehsils

Area (In Acres)

1

Rajanpur

5,76,453

2

Jampur

5,73,789

3

Rojhan

7,19,095

4

De-excluded area

9,88,421

Total

28,57,758

         

The total area of the district given above includes the Tribal area of the district. The measured area of the Tribal Area is 9,88,421 acres while it is estimated that the unmeasured is about 2,000 square miles. Tribal Aria was called “EXCLUDED AREA” till 1961 and later on it was declared as “DE-EXCLUDED AREA”.

 

LAND CLASSIFICATION:

The land of the district has been divided into four main categories:-

  1. Pachad        
  2. Chahi Nehri
  3. Sindh Circle (commonly known as Kacha / Selaba)
  4. Mountains 

 

A. Pachad:

The English equivalent of the Saraiki word Pachad is the word ‘West’. The whole area lying to the West of the district is called Pachad. The Pachad circle comprises of the area stretching in the proximity of the Sulaiman Range along the base of the hills. There are no canals in the area and the entire belt is irrigated by the rain. This area is completely dependent upon timely, rains for agriculture.

One of the unique features of the irrigation system is the Pachad area is the ‘Kala Pani Circle’ of Jampur Tehsil. It is irrigated by the perennial water of Kala Torrent flowing down from the Sulaiman Range. The Sulaiman Range is made up of low ridges more or less continuous and parallel to each other, in between there are broad plains composed of fine and fertile soil. The Hill Torrents in the Southern part of the district bring down a lot of saline water. Parts of Jampur Tehsil near Drigri contain salt peters. The soil throughout Rajanpur district is saline.

B. Chahi Nehri:

  1. Chahi land is one which is irrigated by the wells. The old system of Persian-wheels has almost disappeared. The substantial advances of agriculture loans to the farmers have encouraged the system of irrigation by tube-wells. These tubewells have proved to be a useful source of irrigation in the areas where canal water is either insufficient or is not available. Due to the irrigation through Tubewell system some private forms have flourished into well grown mango gardens and Kinoo Orchards.
  2. The area irrigated by canal water is called the ‘Nehri’ land. Most of such land is located in the intermediate zone lying between the Pachad Belt and the Sindh Circle.

This area is irrigated by the Dajal and Jampur Link III canals. Both these canals are the branches of Dera Ghazi Khan Canal which flows out of Taunsa Barrage Canal System and bifurcates after it enters into the boundaries of the district.

C. Sindh Circle:

The area of the district lying close to the West of River Indus is called Sindh Circle and is commonly known as Kacha / Selaba. It is so named because the irrigation in the area wholly depends upon the river spill. The flood water flows over the fields during the rainy season due to which the fields receive fertility and fresh soil. When the flood water recedes, it leaves behind soil naturally ready for the sowing of winter crops.

     D. Mountains:

The mountains of Sulaiman Range, rough and rugged both in their shape and form, are mainly made up of sand and stones. They are barren and dry from the base to the top. Naturally, as a result, the life of the inhabitants is tough and difficult. The rain water from the hill slopes rushes over the plains in the form of Hill Torrents. The flood water of these Hill Torrents is stored by erecting small embankments and then used for consumption and irrigation. Sometimes excessive rainfall cause these hill torrents to overflow thereby causing great damage to crops as well as private and public property.

Rain water and Hill Torrents or ‘Rod-Kohi’ is the main sources of irrigation in the Valleys of Sulaiman Range.  Another source of irrigation and drinking water is for human population as well as animals is Rain and Kala Pani which flows almost for whole of the year in Chucha and Murunj. Small stone ‘Bunds’ are built to control and divert the flow of water for irrigation and human and animal consumption. Wells are also dug along the sides of the hill torrent Kala for irrigation purpose.