Hoshiarpur faces third territorial split as Anandpur Sahib dist move gains ground

If the proposed plan of the government to carve out a new district of Anandpur Sahib ahead of the 350th martyrdom day of Guru Teg Bahadur gets through, it will be for the third time that the geographical limits of Hoshiarpur will change.

The size of Hoshiarpur district has been shrinking since the reorganisation of the states in 1966. Una subdivision, which was a part of Hoshiarpur, was separated and merged with Himachal Pradesh. Later, it became a district. In 1995, Balachaur sub-division was separated from Hoshiarpur and merged with Nawanshahr when it became a new district . Now, again efforts are underway to detach a third sub-division from the district.

Hoshiarpur district covers 3,386 sq km with Hoshiarpur, Mukerian, Dasuya, Tanda and Garhshankar as its five sub-divisions. Once Garhshankar also moves out, it will be left with four sub-divisions and will be divested of approximately 795 sq km area. This will imply that over 2 lakh population of two blocks of Garhshankar and Mahilpur and about 296 villages will see a shift of their district headquarters from Hoshiarpur to Anandpur Sahib. While Hoshiarpur is about 20 km from Garhshankar, Anandpur Sahib is 50-60 km away.

Congress leader from Garhshankar Amarpreet Singh Lally has suggested that instead of creating a the 24th district in the state, the government should rename the existing district of Ropar after the ninth guru. Lally stated that renaming districts is not a new concept. It has been done earlier in the cases of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr) and Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar (Mohali) too.

He expressed concerns about the financial burden of creating a new district, estimating that it would cost around ₹500 crore for infrastructure and ₹20 crore for monthly expenses. Lally said, "We will support any plan that is people-centric and honours Guru Teg Bahadur's legacy, but we will not support plans that seem to be driven by vote politics."

BJP leader Nimisha Mehta too termed the decision being politically motivated. "People from Garhshankar will be inconvenienced with the shifting of their district headquarters", she too maintained, adding that Malerkotla district still does not have the requisite number of officials posted ever since it was carved out four years ago.

Even as proposals are being discussed at the highest levels, administrative officials are maintaining a complete silence on the issue. "We have only been hearing about the formation of new district of Anandpur Sahib from various sources, but we have so far not received any intimation about it officially", said a senior administrative official from Hoshiarpur.

Aam Aadmi Party MP from Hoshiarpur Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal maintained, "So far it is only a proposal but I shall be communicating it to the top leadership that the sentiments of the people must be taken into account before taking any decision. We do not want our people to feel inconvenienced. People from more than 100 villages which fall under the Chabbewal Assembly constituency and are under Garhshankar too shall have their district headquarters shifted if this change happens."