Phalia is a city in Mandi Bahauddin District, Punjab, Pakistan. The population of Phalia was calculated to be 25,914 in 2007 (21,025 in 1998).[1]
Contents |
Alexander the Great and his army crossed the Jhelum in 326 BC at the Battle of the Hydaspes River where he defeated the Indian king, Porus. According to Arrian (Anabasis, 29), he built a city "on the spot whence he started to cross the river Hydaspes", which he named Bukephala (or Bucephala) to honour his famous horse Bukephalus or Bucephalus which was buried in Jalalpur Sharif. It is thought that ancient Bukephala was near the site of modern Jhelum City. According to a historian of Gujrat district, Mansoor Behzad Butt, Bukephalus was buried in Jalalpur Sharif, but the people of Mandi Bahauddin, a district close to Jehlum, believed that their tehsil Phalia was named after Bucephalus, Alexander's dead horse. The Shah family of Phalia is highly respected and seen as the head of the district.
Phalia is situated at 32.43 N latitude and 73.58 E longitude.[1] It is located between the main cities of Mandi Bahauddin and Gujrat, about 20 kilometres from Mandi Bahauddin and 52 kilometres from Gujrat, at an altitude of 672 feet (205 m) above sea level.
Phalia has a moderate climate, which is hot in summer and cold in winter. During peak summer, the day temperature rises up to 45 °C. The winter months are mild and the minimum temperature may fall below 2 °C. The average annual rainfall in the district is 50 mm.
SCHOOLS: The Govt Pilot Secondary School, established in 1926, is a famous progressive school in Phalia. Two other reputable government schools are the Islamia High School for Boys and the Govt. High School for Girls. International Islamic University, Islamabad has also opened its campus, IIUI Schools, Phalia Campus to provide modern education from Playgroup to GCE O/A Levels. In addition, there are many famous private schools in Phalia making it a hub for quality education in Mandi Bahauddin District.
COLLEGES: There are several private and government colleges in Phalia; prominent of these are Govt. Yaqoob Shah Degree College for Boys,it was an intermediate college and was upgraded after the death of renowned spiritual personality Yaqoob Shah and was named after him by the Punjab Government, Govt. Degree College for Girls, and Govt Degree College for Boys, Bhoa Hassan. One of the branch of Punjab College just opened here about a year ago.Its a very beautiful college where co-education does not exist.Farabi College also opened about 2 years ago and showing excellent results.There are many colleges in phalia now.
Majority of the peoples earn their livelihood through agriculture. Few peoples are in Government services and among them most are in WAPDA, ARMY, POLICE AND WORKING AS LAWYERS. Now there is trend among the youth to go abroad that’s why many peoples of the Phalia city and villages near the city are found in England, France,Spain, Greece, Italy, Kuwait, Saudi-Arabia, Muscat etc. in search of their earning.
Health Medical facilities in the city are fairly well established the main hospital in the city is THH (Tehsil Headquarter Hospital). There are several other private hospitals Health center and Clinic at different locations within the city with some famous doctors.
Phalia is not a big city, with about 15,000 houses occupied by about 100,000 people. Most of the population of the village are Muslim with some Christians.
Punjabi is the native language of the province and is the most widely spoken language in Phalia. Urdu has started to become more prominent in many areas now due to its official status as the national language.
The number of registered voters in the city and village is almost 130,000 among them almost half of them are of female voters.
The media appearance in Phalia is increasing as reveluation in electronic media in Pakistan. There are corrospondant of Pakistani Electroic TV Channels including DM Digital, Geo News, Waqt News, Channel 5 in Phalia. In Newspaper category, here are Daily Elaqa, Daily Agah, Aap, Phalia Times (First Online Newspaper of Phalia).
Phalia city has developed markets with over 3000 shops. main market is Gold and cloth market of Jamia Masjid street and Main bazar of the city. Its markets are more developed as compared to the other near cities now Tehsil Phalia is the 5th biggest revenue generator in Punjab.