Moonak
Moonak Akalgarh | |
---|---|
town | |
Moonak Location in Sangrur District, Punjab, India | |
Coordinates: 29°49′11″N 75°53′12″E / 29.8196°N 75.8866°ECoordinates: 29°49′11″N 75°53′12″E / 29.8196°N 75.8866°E | |
Country | India |
State | Punjab |
Government | |
• Body | Municipal Committee |
Elevation | 241 m (791 ft) |
Population (2011) | |
• Total | 18,141 |
Languages | |
• Official | Punjabi |
Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
PIN | 148033 |
Vehicle registration | PB-64 |
Moonak is a town and a nagar panchayat in Sangrur district in the Indian state of Punjab. Moonak is a religious city with many temples and gurudwaras. Moonak was part of the princely state of Jind before PEPSU.The majority of people are engaged in farming and agricultural business. Moonak is situated near the Punjab-Haryana border. The nearest towns of Haryana are Jakhal Mandi and Tohana. The nearest commercial airport to Moonak is at Chandigarh which is 150 Km from here.
Demographics
Moonak is a Nagar Panchayat city in district of Sangrur, Punjab. The Moonak city is divided into 13 wards for which elections are held every 5 years. The Moonak Nagar Panchayat has population of 18,141 of which 9,475 are males while 8,666 are females as per report released by Census India 2011. Population of Children with age of 0-6 is 2325 which is 12.82% of total population of Moonak (NP). In Moonak Nagar Panchayat, Female Sex Ratio is of 915 against state average of 895. Moreover Child Sex Ratio in Moonak is around 863 compared to Punjab state average of 846. Literacy rate of Moonak city is 67.68% lower than state average of 75.84%. In Moonak, Male literacy is around 73.54% while female literacy rate is 61.33%. Moonak Nagar Panchayat has total administration over 3,296 houses to which it supplies basic amenities like water and sewerage. It is also authorized to build roads within Nagar Panchayat limits and impose taxes on properties coming under its jurisdiction
History
Moonak was originally known as Akalgarh. There is an old fort 'Qila Mubarik' said to have been built in the Muslim period. In the fort, there was a well whose water was not good for health Hardened prisoners of Patiala State were sent to this place where they died after a few days. Peacocks are found here in abundance, and they move about quite freely. They are neither caught nor killed by the people. During the period when the emperor Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled Punjab, his uncle hold the charges, but sometime after that his uncle cheated him under the pressure of the English. Singh attacked Moonak, and saved it from undergoing the English. It is a town with population about 25,000, and is a Tehsil of the Sangrur district. It is surrounded by Ghaggar seasonal river which causes floods during monsoon. It caused havoc in 1988,1992, 2011 and 2015 leading to severe floods loss of crops, death and destruction in and around the areas. A long pending demand of people is pending for its deepening.
Climate
Moonak has similar climate like other places in North India. It has profile of semi-arid climate.During the months of June-July, the temperature rises up-to 44°C. In December-January, the temperature falls under 10°C. In monsoons, Moonak receives average rainfall.
Major business activities
Most of the population depends on agriculture and farming. There are also some small scale industries:
- Incense manufacturing
- Agriculture machine manufacturing
- Wine and whiskey making
- PVC pipe manufacturing
- Fertilizer factory
- Rice mills
- Brick making
Famous Shops
Most Popular Shops are:
- Elegant Footwear (Near Mata Durga Mandir,Dehla Road)
- Desi dil reatuorant ( near new bus stand tohana road moonak )
- New style electric store (pseb board)
- Goyal cement store (near mahavir dharamkanda ,patran road)
- Moonak Agriculture Store
(jakhal road moonak)
- JS Electric & RO works (Near Police Station Moonak) -contact no. 8054196803
- M/s Manney agriculture and engineering (Chandigarh road)
- Life Style Cosmetics & Jewelry (Main Bazar)
- Prince Book Depot (Old Bus Stand)
- Goyal Electronic Store (Patran Road)
- Lucky Garments Near Govt. sen. sec. school
- Delhi Garments
- Arihant Book Depot
- Surindra Cloth House (Barrier ,Patran Road)
- Jain Book Depot, Main Bazaar
- Jain Telecom, Near Shaheed Udham Singh Stadium
Communities and castes
Sainis, Jatts and Raos forms the majority population of Moonak and villages around. Some of the other communities are Pahujas, Aroras, Garg, Singla, Goyal, Bansal and Jain. A decent population of Sikhs also constitutes the population of Moonak. valmiki and ravidas also constitutes population of moonak.
Banks
There are many banks in Moonak like Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Patiala, Co-Operative Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank and Axis Bank.
Famous people
- Ashok Bhaan - Supreme Court Justice
- Babu Brish Bhan - was Chief Minister of Patiala and East Punjab States Union
- R.K.Garg -Chairman of Steel Strips Wheels Ltd.
- Sardar Arjan Singh Mann - first person from the town to travel abroad (Malaysia) in the early 1930s.
- Gurbachan Singh Talib - author- Conferred with Padma Bhushan in 1985
- Sub Yadvinder Kumar - first person from Moonak to serve as Indian Peace Keeper in Democratic Republic of Congo under MONUSCO.
- Gulzar Singh "Gulzari" - famous kabbadi player
- Mandeep Singh Virk (Vice President of ABVP, from district Sangrur)
- Sardar Kashmir Singh Sandhu, famous Socialist leader and progressive Farmer. He got state level award for growing Kinnows
Education
Moonak has literacy rate of 52% as per 2010 census, but it has been rising continuously from last 10 years. It has been seen from last 5–6 years that students are moving to major cities like Delhi, Chandigarh, Patiala, Ambala etc. to pursue higher studies after 10th & 12th. A trend is observed among students to pursue in engineering field after year 2008. Major educational institutes are mentioned below:-
- Shiksha Niketan Moonak
- Holy Child Public School Moonak
- B.B.B.D.A.V. Public School Moonak
- Govt. Girls High School Moonak
- Govt. Boys Sen. Sec. School Moonak
- Lord Shiva Public School,Hamirgarh Moonak
- Navdeep Public School Moonak
- University college Moonak; Branch established by Punjabi University
- Swami Vivekanand College of Education: Teacher education institute
- Lord Shiva College Of education,Hamirgarh Moonak
- Govt. Industrial Training Institute
Some of private institutes providing education in different fields are mentioned below These institutions are funded by individuals only
- The Education Point -9417375963,9417375969 (Excellent coaching for NTSE, JET, SLIET, CSIO-ISTC and job oriented competitive exams like Bank PO/Clerks, SSC, RBI, RRB,etc.)
- Shaheed Udham Singh Technical Institute
- GX Computer Institute
- Silicon Infosys
- Moonak Institute Of Management & Technology
- Govt. Boys Sen. Sec. School Moonak
Religious places
Notable religious places include
- Durga Mandir
- Shiv Mandir
- Nauvi Patshahi Gurudwara Sahib Ji