District: Faridkot

Faridkot District takes its name from the historic town of faridkot, which now serves as the District Headquarters. We can trace the history of this erstwhile princely State to the 13 th century. This town was founded by Raja Mokalsi, the grandson of Rai Munj, a Bhatti Chief of Rajasthan and named Mokalhar after his name. A famous Sufi Saint Hazrat Baba Sheikh Farid happened to pass through this town during the same time. Baba Farid was captured by the soldiers of Raja Mokalsi and put to bonded labour for the ongoing construction work of the fort at Faridkot. The basket full of earth while being carried by Baba Farid, was seen floating over his head. On seeing this miracle, Raja touched the feet of Baba Farid and begged pardon. Baba Farid pardoned the Raja and meditated at a place near the fort, where he penanced for forty days. From that day the name of Mokalhar was changed to Faridkot.

Prior to independence, large part of the district was under the princely rule of Maharaja Faridkot and later it became part of the Patiala & East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) in 1948. Faridkot was carved out as a separate district on 7 th August 1972 out of the areas of Bathinda District (Faridkot Tehsil) and Ferozepur District (Moga and Muktsar Tehsils). However in November 1995, the Faridkot District was trifurcated, when two of its sub divisions viz Muktsar and Moga were given the status of independent districts.

Faridkot district is surrounded by district Ferozepur in the North-West, Muktsar in the South-West, Bathinda in the South and Moga in the West. The District covers an area of 1469 Sq. Kms, which is 2.92% of the total area of the State and accommodates a population of 5,52,466 which is 2.27% of the total population of the State. It has two Sub divisions/ Tehsils namely Faridkot and Jaito and two Sub Tehsils namely Kotkapura and Sadiq comprising of a total of 171 villages. Faridkot District has two development blocks; namely Faridkot and Kotkapura.