About Rupnagar

Rupnagar city also has the status of district headquarters with the creation of Rupnagar District on 1st Nov 1966. Situated on the bank of river Satluj, Sirhind canal passes through the heart of the city. It was formerly known as Ropar.

The town of Rupnagar occupies a prominent place in the ancient and medieval history and has an importance in modern history too. Recent excavations suggest that Rupnagar was one of the oldest towns in the Punjab. The relics excavated from a mound, known as Nalagarh Tibbi near the Government College reveal that the town had flourished in the past with a very advanced civilization similar to Harappa and Mohenjodaro Civilization.

The small city of Rupnagar occupies a prominent place in the modern history also. It was here under a "Peepal Tree" that a memorable meeting between Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Lord William Ben tick took place on 26th October 1831 during which various boundary issues were settled.

Included in the Patiala Division after the reorganization of Punjab in 1966, Rupnagar District falls between north latitude 30"-32' and 30o -24 and east longitude 76o-18' and 760-55'. The district adjoins Una District (Himachal Pradesh) in the north, Hoshiarpur District in the northwest and Ludhiana and Patiala districts in south-west The district comprises three tahsils, Rupnagar, Kharar and Anandpur Sahib, and includes 919 villages (26 of these being uninhabited villages) and 9 towns, namely Rupnagar, Kharar, Chamkaur Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, Kurali, Morinda, Nangar Township, Naya -Nangal and Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar.

Rupnagar Town, the district headquarters, is located at a distance of 41 km from Chandigarh. Kurali is the town nearest the district headquarters (16 km), while Naya Nangal is the farthest (63 Km). Passenger and goods transport facilities are available in all the towns of the district except Kharar, Chamkaur Sahib and SAS Nagar fall on the railway line. The Satluj River passes close (2 to 5 km) to the towns of Nangal, Naya Nangal, Rupnagar and Anandpur Sahib.

The city has many worth seeing sites in and around it, such as Head Works, Pin cassia Boat Club, Treaty Place of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Lord William Ben tick, Site of Indus Valley Civilization, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Bagh, Gurudwara Bhatha Sahib and Gurudwara Sadabarat.

Near the Ropar Head works there is a Tourist Bungalow and Boating Complex known as Pin cassia, run by Punjab Tourism Development Corporation. The complex provides boarding and lodging facilities to the visitors and has a restaurant and beer bar.