Sukkur Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Sukkur Town
Sakhar
Head-quarters of Sukkur District, Sind, Bombay, situated in 27° 42' N. and 68° 54' E., on the right or western bank of the Indus, opposite Rohri. Midway between these two towns lies the island fortress of Bukkur, and a little southward the wooded island of Sadh Bela. Sukkur is a station on the North-Western Railway, which here crosses the Indus to Rohri by the fine Lansdowne Bridge, constructed on the cantilever principle.
A range of low limestone hills, utterly devoid of vegetation, slopes down to the river ; and it is on this rocky site that New Sukkur, as distinguished from the old town of the same name about a mile distant, is partly situated. Scattered about are the ruins of numerous tombs ; and at the western side of the town, overlooking the river, is the lofty minaret of Mir Masum Shah, erected, it is supposed, about 1607. The town is well drained and clean. In 1834 the population was estimated at only 4,000; in 1872 it had risen to 13,318; in 1881 to 27,389; in 1891 to 29,302; and in 1901 to 31,316. Muhammadans number 11,386; Hindus, 19,313; Christians, 339.
The trade of Sukkur, both local and transit, is still considerable, but no trustworthy details are available. It has suffered from the com- pletion of railways on both banks of the Indus to Karachi, and the consequent through booking of export produce. Statistics of the traffic on the Indus appear to have been regularly kept from 1855-6 to 1861-2, by an officer of the Indian Navy. In 1855-6, 600 boats proceeded up river with a total tonnage of 7,750; and in 1861-2, 1,232, with a tonnage of 20,232, discharged at the Sukkur port. In the same years, 629 and 1,714 boats left Sukkur, with cargoes amounting to 8,000 and 16,317 tons, respectively. The downward exports comprise silk, cotton cloth, raw cotton, wool, opium, saltpetre, sugar, dyes, and brass utensils. The upward traffic includes piece-goods, metals, wines and spirits, and country produce. There is a large local trade between Sukkur and Shikarpur. The town possesses no special manufactures, except a considerable boat-building industry. It has an aided technical school with an attendance of 27, and 13 other schools, of which 9 are for boys with 1,034 pupils, and 4 are for girls with 181 pupils. Besides the offices of the District authorities, the town contains a Subordinate Judge's court, a civil hospital, and a dispensary.
Old Sukkur seems to be a place of no great antiquity, though it contains the ruins of numerous tombs and mosques. Among the former is the tomb of Shah Khair-ud-din Shah, which is said to have been erected about 1758. New Sukkur owes its existence to the stationing of European troops here in 1839, at the time when Bukkur fort was made over to the British ; and it was rapidly converted into a prosperous and busy town. In 1845, after a fatal epidemic of fever among the garrison. New Sukkur was abandoned as a station for European troops ; but it is now of greater importance than before, as the centre of railway communication with Karachi, Multan, and Quetta. A chain of forts protects the approach to the Lansdowne Bridge, while the repairing shops of the North-Western Railway in the Adam Shah quarter are protected for rifle-defence. The water-supply is drawn from a group of wells near the Lansdowne Bridge, and is pumped up to tanks near the water-tower, which stands on the highest point of the limestone rocks of Sukkur. Among the chief buildings of New Sukkur are the municipal office and library, used as a signal- station during the period of ej^istence of the Indus flotilla, three churches, and the railway institute. Little is known of Old Sukkur in the days of Afghan rule ; but it is believed to have been ceded to the Khairpur Mirs some time between the years 1809 and 1824. In 1833 it was the scene of a conflict between Shah Shuja-ul-mulk, tlie dethroned Durrani sovereign, and the Talpur Mirs, the latter being defeated. In 1843 Old Sukkur, together with Karachi, Tatta, Bukkur, and Rohri, was yielded to the British in perpetuity.
The municipality, established in 1862, had an average revenue dur- ing the decade ending 1901 of 3 lakhs. In 1903-4 the income was 2 lakhs, composed chiefly of octroi (Rs. 94,000), bandar or port fees (Rs. 24,000), rent of houses and lands (Rs. 11,000), and house tax (Rs. 10,000); while the expenditure amounted to i-6 lakhs, including Rs. 50,000 for administrative charges, Rs. 47,000 for extraordinary charges and debt, Rs. 21,000 for education, and a similar sum for conservancy.
