Muzaffargarh 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.
Muzaffargarh Town
Head-quarters of the District and tahsil of Muzaffargarh, Punjab, situated in 30° 4 N. and 71° 12' E,, in the apex of the Sind-Sagar Doab, on the metalled road from Multan to Dera Ghazi Khan and on the North-Western Railway. Population (1901), 4,018. Navvab Muzaffar Khan, the Sadozai governor of Multan, built a fort here in 1794-6, which Ranjit Singh took by storm in 1818. The town also contains a mosque built by Muzaffar Khan. It became the head-quarters of the District in 1859, when Khangarh was abandoned. The fort of Muzaffar Khan is formed by a circular-shaped "wall 30 feet high, enclosing a space with a diameter of 160 yards, while the suburbs, which surround it on all sides, nearly conceal it from view. The wall has sixteen bastions and battlements all round. The municipality w^as created in 1873. The income and expenditure during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 10,800 and Rs. 10,700 respectively. The income in 1903-4 was Rs. 14,000, chiefly from octroi; and the expen- diture was Rs. 14,300. The town contains an Anglo-vernacular high school maintained by Government, a civil hospital, and a cotton-ginning and pressing and rice-husking factory, with 103 employes in 1904.
