Amra Kalan

Amra Kalan
Village and union council
Coordinates: 32°40′0″N 73°40′0″E / 32.66667°N 73.66667°E
Country Pakistan
Region Punjab province
District Gujrat District
Time zone PST (UTC+5)
Amra Kalan Village
Amra Kalan Hospital
Amra Kalan's peaceful country life
First solar panel system in Amra Kalan with beautiful landscape scenery in the background
Amra Kalan - Sunset

Amra Kalan is a village and union council of Gujrat District, in the Punjab province of Pakistan.[1] It is part of Kharian Tehsil and is located at 32°40'0N 73°40'0E with an altitude of 219 metres.[2]

History

Amra Kalan was named after its first settler Amra Khan in the 16th century. The Battle of Chillianwala was fought during the Second Anglo-Sikh War in the nearby villages of Chillianwala and Rasul on 13 January 1849. Before the creation of Pakistan it was home to Muslims and Sikhs. During the bloody partition in 1947, Sikhs migrated to India and Muslim refugees (Muhajirs) from India were given the abandoned properties left behind by the Sikhs.

Before 1960 people of Amra Kalan largerly depended on agriculture. Small land holdings and economic conditions forced people to look for alternatives. From the early 1960s, many inhabitants started migrating to European countries; mainly the United Kingdom, Greece, Holland, Denmark and Norway, to the Middle East in the 70s and later to USA, Spain and Italy from the 90s onward. This has brought about an improvement in the economic conditions for majority of the population with better living conditions for many in the village.

Infrastructure

Amra Kalan is in two parts: the main village and the Adda (bus stop). Over the years the Adda has developed into a place of commercial and industrial activity. Amra Kalan is growing into a small town: It has three government schools, hospital, a telephone exchange, a bank, a post office, two graveyards and two self-funded community centres.

The streets are paved and sewerage channels are open but lined. The village is surrounded by fields that are used to harvest rice and wheat in respective seasons.

Transport

Amra Kalan has seventy Rickshaws providing convenient transport to neighbouring villages and to Dinga Town that is approximately 3 miles from the village. There are some tangas (single horse carriages) linking the village and the Adda but their number is on the decline. The Adda provides two taxi bases.

Religion

The village is home to sunni, sufi and shia Muslims. There are eleven mosques, four holy shrines and one imam bargah. in Amra Kalan there is a lovely holy shrine of hazrat Allah Din Sarkar R.A and his son hazrat peer Azim ur Rehman R.A [two great sufi saints]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Amra Kalan.

Coordinates: 32°40′0″N 73°40′0″E / 32.66667°N 73.66667°E