Sangrur

Sangrur is a city, a municipal council and capital of the Sangrur district in the Indian state of Punjab, India. Sangrur is the district headquarter. It is located on cross section of Delhi - Ludhiana and Patiala - Bathinda roads and on Ludhiana-Jakhal railway line. It is 80 km from Ludhiana and 48 km from Patiala. The district in general is a rural region in the southern part of the State of Punjab. Situated west of Patiala, it is virtually isolated from urban centre of the State. Sangrur is located at 30.23° N 75.83° E. It has an average elevation of 232 metres (761 feet).
Founded by Baba Ala Singh,the founder of Patiala state. It is said that Guru Gobind Singh came here once on a "Shikara" (hunt). The Gurdwara Bahadur is located inside the village. The Udasi Baba Charan Dass who was brought up by Mata Sundri belonged to this village. A Samadh to his memory stands outside the village.
===Demographics===
As of 2001 India census, Sangrur had a population of 78,717. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Sangrur has an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 75%, and female literacy is 68%. In Sangrur, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.
===History===
Sangrur was the winter capital of the princely Jind State (Khunga Kothi, a place on the left bank of a canal near Jind was its summer capital). Originally this City belonged to Nabha State but later on the Raja of Jind snatched it from Nabha state.
===Famous people born in Sangrur===
This district gave two chief ministers to present day Indian Punjab and one to the PEPSU(Patiala and East Punjab States Union - This state was later on merged with present-day Punjab. It had Patiala as its state capital.) The two Punjab Chief Ministers were Mr. Surjit Singh Barnala -the current Governor of Tamil Nadu, Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhathal- the present deputy chief minister of Punjab. Late Lala Brish Bhan was the chief minister of PEPSU. Baba Hira Singh Bhattal was great freedom fighter who belonged to this district (Mrs. Rajinder Kaur Bhathal is his daughter). Shaheed (i.e. Martyr) Udham Singh ( He preferred to be called as Ram Mohammed Singh Azad) too was born in this district (Sunam). He avenged the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 by killing General O'Dwyer in London. Sant Baba Attar Singh Mastuanawale, Giani Gian Singh Ji, Shaheed Bhai Mani Singh, and many more were also from this district.
==Tourist info==
Sangrur is not a tourist spot as it does not boast of any places of tourist interest. There are a few places of some historical or religious importance including Gurdwaras and Hindu Temples of historical importance. A well planned Banesar Garden in the north of the city with an attractive marble baradari is a popular picnic spot. It also has a mini-zoo. Chefs and HotChop is one of the best places to stay.
Weather: Sangrur gets very dry and hot in summers lasting from early March to July. Moonsoon Rains start around early to mid July and last through August and end in September. It becomes quite cold in Dec-January. Best time to visit Sangrur is January to March, as this time climate is too pleasant. Along with this you can enjoy festival like Lohri and Basant.
Travel options from Delhi include train and road travel. Train requires advance reservation or on the spot ticket (unreserved 2nd class compartment - not recommended). Recently, the websites allow E-tickets to be bought using any international credit card and taking a printout of the same. For more info, see http://www.indianrail.gov.in and register online at http://www.irctc.co.in for online booking of tickets. For travelling via trains in India, see the excellent post on Indian Rail Travel. Work is in progress to put up ATM machines at Railway stations to allow purchase of E-tickets using credit/debit cards. For a comfortable, though slightly expensive option, it is better to contact a tourist agency and rent a vehicle. It can be hot, grimy, dusty and downright painful to travel in the Punjab Roadways buses as it does not have a deluxe service / air-conditioning. Interstate buses are run by Punjab Roadways and PEPSU from the Delhi Interstate Bus Terminus (ISBT) at Kashmiri Gate.
Or you can plan your route via Dhuri railway junction, as Dhuri is well connected with all cities by railway line. The distance from Dhuri to Sangrur is hardly 20 km and thus easy to approach.
==Education in Sangrur==
The city and surroundings provide a good educational services to the district which includes:
*1. SLIET (Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology) (www.sliet.org) which is run and managed by Ministry of HRD, India.
*2. Bhai Gurdas Group of Institutions (www.bhaigurdas.com)
*3. La Foundation School, Sangrur (www.lafoundation.com)
*4. GGS Public School Sangrur
*5. and a B.Ed, Nursing and Dental college
Category:Places
Category:Geography
Category:Districts
Category:Cities