History

BRIEF HISTORY OF SHORKOT CANTONMENT

Till today in the map and official record, the area now consisting of  Shorkot Cantonment is known as Shorkot Road because of the road whch connected the Railway Junction to the Shorkot Town. The Railway Junction was established in 1912. As per Revenue Record the place consists of  Chak No. 634 GB whose total area is 550 acre. The growth of this area started in 1947, due to migration of the Indian Muslims from the District of Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar. The major attraction was the availability of the state land to build residences. It was despite the fact that the subsoil water was saline and therefore not potable. Today this area is known as the Katchi Abadi Chak No. 634 GB Shorkot Cantt. (one of the oldest Katchi Abadis). The locals of this area started a  “Panchayat” in the 1956, and its first demand was the settlement of Muhajirs on permanent basis. So the struggle for proprietary rights started in 1956. Growth in population resulted in the establishment of “Town Committee” in 1964 under the basic democracies system of General Ayub Khan. In 1967 (Nearly three year after the Town Committee), owing to the creation of the Rafiqui Air Base, the Cantonment Board Shorkot stepped in to the shoes of the old “Town Committee”.

                        The Cantonment Board Shorkot  came into existence at this station vide gazette Notification No. 805/67 dated 31-03-1967.

                        The boundary of Cantonment was revised vide gazette Notification No. 584 (I)84 dated 27-06-1984 by excluding following chaks:-

i.                    Chak No 01 Ghagh                                         (Entire area)

ii.                  Chak No. 02 Ghagh                                        -do-

iii.                Chak No.01 Basira                                          -do-

iv.                Chak No. 02 Basira                                         -do-

v.                  Chak No. 03 Basira                                         -do-

vi.                Chak No. 04 Basira                                         -do-

vii.              Chak No. 01 Darkhana                                   -do-

viii.            Chak No. 02 Darkhana                                   -do-

ix.                Chak No. 701/43 GB                                      the Entire area towards

the south-western side of TS link Canal

x.                  Chak No. 702/44 GB                                      - do-

xi.                Chak No. 327 GB                                           Populated area only

xii.              Rakh kaki Khona                                            (Entire Area)

The  boundary of Cantonment was again re-defined by excluding the area of following Chaks vide Gazette Notification No. 1197(I)/92 dated 05-12-1992:-

                    i.                        Chak No. 325 GB                                           All population area

including some of the surrounding areas toward north-western side as specified in the notification.

                  ii.                        Chak No. 326 GB                                           - do-

                iii.                        Chak No. 700/42 GB                                      All population area

including some of the surrounding areas toward north-eastern side as specified in the notification.

                iv.                        Chak No. 634 GB                                           populated area partially

excluded as specified in the above notification.

                        The Boundary was once again revised vide Gazette Notification No. 127/1/B&G/ML&C/66/773/D-12/ML&C/94 dated 16-02-1994 by including the area of Chak No. 634 GB and this is the present boundary of Shorkot Cantonment.

                        There is no notified Bazar area in this Cantonment.