ਮੋਗਾਮੋਗਾ

Moga is a city in the Malwa region of Punjab and the headquarters of Moga district, a role it has held since 24 November 1995. The 2011 census counted 163,397 residents. It is known as the town where Nestle set up its first Indian production facility in 1961, for its busy grain market, and as the birthplace of actor Sonu Sood and cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur.

ਇਤਿਹਾਸ

Moga takes its name from Moga Gill, of the Gill clan. According to the district census handbook, the Wadan Gills settled the southern and western parts of the present district in the early 17th century; after clashes with the Brars, the Gills moved north and founded the settlements of Moga, Chhirak and Chal. A local telling says the settlement was named for Moga, the son born of a Wadan Gill father and a Sangar Brar mother after the two clans made peace through marriage.

Sikh history passed through the region early. In 1634, Guru Hargobind, travelling to meet the Mughals in battle, came near Moga with fresh recruits and sent his family to safety in Kartarpur while he stayed in Malwa; local Gill and Dhaliwal tribes are recorded as having aided him at the Battle of Mehraj.

Under the British, Moga grew as a market town. The railway reached it in 1901, and the tea trade through the town was brisk enough to coin a local phrase, Moga chah joga, meaning Moga has only tea. A co-educational school founded by the Dev Samaj in 1899 became the Dev Samaj High School, and in 1926 the Dayanand Mathra Dass College opened, one of the few colleges in Punjab founded before independence. Eye surgeon Mathra Das Pahwa set up a hospital here in 1927 and operated on cataract patients free of charge; Mahatma Gandhi is recorded as having witnessed one of his operations. In November 1914, during the Ghadar movement, two officials were shot dead in a raid on the local treasury.

After 1947, Moga became a centre of Punjab's political and student life. On 5 October 1972, police opened fire on a protest against cinema ticket black-marketing near Regal Cinema, killing four people; the Moga agitation that followed, led by leftist student groups, shook the state for two months, and the Punjab Students Union was formed the same year. A library now stands at the former cinema's site in memory of the dead students. On 26 June 1989, during the Punjab insurgency, an attack on RSS workers at Nehru Park killed 24 people. In 1996 the Shiromani Akali Dal held its Moga Conference here, adopting the moderate Moga Declaration and shifting its headquarters from Amritsar to Chandigarh.

On 24 November 1995, chief minister Harcharan Singh Brar carved Moga district out of Faridkot, making Moga the headquarters of the state's 17th district. The city's industrial identity had been set decades earlier: in 1961 Nestle built its first Indian production facility at Moga, and the plant's milk collection network turned the surrounding belt into a dairy hub.

Where is Moga?

Moga stands at 30.82 N, 75.17 E in the Malwa region, on the Ferozepur to Ludhiana road (the old NH-95, now numbered NH-5). It lies between Ludhiana to the east and Ferozepur to the west, at an elevation of 217 metres. Its PIN code is 142001 and its vehicle registration mark is PB-29.

Geography and people

The 2011 census counted 163,397 people in the city. In religion, the city is almost evenly split: about 50.5 percent Sikh and 46.8 percent Hindu. The surrounding countryside is wheat, paddy and cotton country, and Moga works as the administrative, educational and commercial centre for the whole district, with colleges, hospitals and courts serving a wide rural area. Punjabi is the official language.

Places of interest

The anaj mandi is the town's economic heart; in the wheat and paddy seasons, farmers from across the district bring their produce here, and the old grain market gate is one of the city's recognised landmarks. The Nestle plant marks Moga's industrial history. The railway station, the courts and the colleges cluster near the centre, and the city's gurdwaras and mandirs serve its Sikh and Hindu residents. A short drive away are the district's other towns: Dharamkot, Bagha Purana and Nihal Singh Wala, each a mandi centre in its own right.

Notable people

Actor Sonu Sood was born in Moga. Cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur was born here too, as was Narinder Singh Kapany, the physicist known for his pioneering work in fibre optics. The district's most famous son, freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai, was born at Dhudike, a village in present-day Moga district.

Getting there

Moga has its own railway station under the Northern Railway, with trains to Ferozepur, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Ambala, Delhi and Jaipur. By road, NH-5 links it to Ludhiana and Ferozepur, and onward to Chandigarh.

Today

Moga remains the district's administrative and commercial capital. The mandi economy, the Nestle plant and the district courts and colleges keep the city busy through the year, and its colleges draw students from across Malwa. The city's history, from the Gill settlement to the Moga Declaration of 1996, is still visible in its street names and institutions.