About District

165 year old historical town Fazilka, District Fazilka, also known as Bangla, is located in southwestern Punjab (INDIA), about 325 kms west of Punjab State Capital Chandigarh, 85 km south-west of Ferozepur and 200 km south of Amritsar. Fazilka is on India -Pakistan border and is 11 km off the international border with Pakistan. It is situated on the rice growing and cotton rich belt of the state and is one of the major rice exporting centers in India. Before partition, the town was the biggest wool market in undivided Punjab.

Fazilka’s origin dates back to AD 1844. It was established by Mr. Oliver and was christened after the original owner of the land, Mian Fazil Watoo.When in 1844, the tract of country on the Satluj was ceded by Bahawalpur, there was no village where Fazilka now stands, but Vans Agnew, the first officer stationed there, built himself a bungalow, in which the office of the Subdivisional Officer (Civil), Fazilka, is now located. From that bungalow, the place became known as Bangla, a name still given to the town and tehsil by the people. Two years later, Oliver established a few shops there, and gave the place the name of Fazilka from Fazil, one of early Wattu settlers. Its favrouable position near the Satluj enabled it to engross almost the whole of the export trade from the great desert tract towards Sind (now in Pakistan), and made it very soon a flourishing market. A most destructive flood visited Fazlika in 1908 and practically the whole of the town collapsed and had to be rebuilt. The first railway line through the town was setup in AD 1898 on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee celebration of the accession of Queen Victoria. Being at the border, Fazilka also had to bear the brunt of the two Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971.

Before the partition of the country in 1947, Fazlika was the biggest wool market in India, but thereafter the trade has been hit very hard, with a major portion of the supply area going to Pakistan and the Bikaner Town gradually attracting the raw wool produced in Rajasthan. Other products, for which the town is known, are baan, moorhas and sirkis.The famous ‘Tosha’ sweets have its origin in Fazilka. The first single cylinder steam ship in the world, Fazilka, was named after this town. Fazilka is also home to the second biggest TV tower in Asia, which stands at 305 m above the ground. Amritsar International Airport and Ludhiana Domestic Airport serves Fazilka. Fazilka Railway Station is located on Abhor- Ferozepur Region of Northern Railways. National Highway 10 passes through Fazilka