pakistan geographical review 1954 - University of the Punjab

oats are built. The whole length of the Bunder Road is one of steady activity.
Behind the shops and ware-houses which face the river bank lies the new town
curling round the hills with its high fiat-topped houses packed close together.
Beyond it on the north-western extrimity of the town is an area where a few
factories, the railway work-shop, power house, water-works and large railway
colony are established.
POPULATION
So far as the population of this town is concerned hardly any thing can
be ascertained earlier than 1872, as no records are available. The first official
census of the town was made in the year 1872 and its population was estimated
at 13,318 persons.
The following table gives the estimated figures of population from
1872 to 1951.
1872 18RI 1891 1901 Hlll 1921 1931 1941 1951
13,318 27,389 29,302 31,318 35,294 42,759 69,277 66,649 77,026
From the above table it is clear that the population of the town increased
nearly by six times within 80 years. The increase in the first twenty years
from the date of the first census is evidently connected with the opening
of the railway from Kotri to Sukkur and from Rohri to Khanpur in the
year 1878; the construction of the Lansdown Bridge in the year 1889, which
connected the town with several other important towns of Northern India.
Railways gave a good chance for many traders to come and settle here. The
policy of the early administration was also to develop Sukkur as a market town.
In the next thirty years the increase is connected to many economic events of
the region, when the opening of the Railway work-shop and a few industries
threw open jobs to the un-skilled population. Secondly, the improvement on
the old canal system increased the agricultural productivity, and in 1921 it was
a fairly important market town in Northern India and the majority of the
population was engaged in the grain trade. In 1931 the population of the town
increased by five times due to the construction of the Barrage, which employed
thousands of workers. Latter on the Barrage town-ship was also added, which
is in fact a colony of the employees of the Irrigation Department. In 1941 the
population for the first time showed a decline, which was due to a large fall
in the number of people working as ordinary labourers who had to leave, when
the Barrage was completed. The increase shown in 1951, is due to the great
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