ਘਰਯਲਾਘਰਯਲਾ

A village with a railway station of its own

Gharyala is a large village in Patti tehsil of ਤਰਨ ਤਾਰਨ district, Punjab, in the Majha region. What sets it apart from most villages of its size is that it has a railway station of its own, Gharyala, code GYL, on the line from Amritsar to Khem Karan. The village is administered by its own gram panchayat, covers 597 hectares and carries census village code 038167, with PIN code 143416. The nearest town, ਪੱਟੀ, is 16 kilometres away, and the district headquarters at Tarn Taran is about 35 kilometres away. Villages recorded around it include ਧਗਨਾ, about 3 kilometres away, and ਸ਼ਹਿਡ, about 5 kilometres away. The village falls in the Khem Karan assembly constituency and the Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency. It should not be confused with Gharyala Khurd, a smaller village of the same tehsil with its own separate record.

The trains through Gharyala

Gharyala station is a small halt with a single platform on a single diesel line, under the Firozpur division of Northern Railway. A dozen DEMU trains halt here across the day, the first in the early morning and the last in the evening. They run in one direction through Boparai and Patti towards Bhagtanwala and Amritsar, about 57 kilometres by rail, and in the other through Valtoha and Rattoke Gurdwara to Khem Karan, about 20 kilometres away. For a village, that is a working railway connection to a city, not just a line passing through. The station stands on the Khemkaran Patti Road, and the road by it has become the village's public face: Shri Guru Ramdas Public School stands by the station, the Mandir Shri Mata Ji stands opposite it, and shops line Railway Road in the main bazaar.

People and work

The 2011 census counted 9,391 people in Gharyala, up from 7,856 in 2001, growth of about a fifth in ten years. They lived in 1,711 households, about 5.5 people to a household: 4,942 men and 4,449 women, a sex ratio of 900 women for every 1,000 men. Because all those people are packed into 597 hectares, the density works out to about 1,573 people per square kilometre, closer to the crowding of a small town than of a village. Children up to the age of six numbered 1,279, about 14 per cent of the village. Scheduled Castes made up 2,399 people, about 26 per cent of the population, and no Scheduled Tribe population was recorded.

Literacy is the record's weak point: 62.06 per cent among residents aged seven and above, with men at 69.38 per cent and women at 54.09 per cent. Work, though, is strong. The census recorded 3,636 workers, about 39 per cent of the village. Of the 3,373 main workers, 1,297 were cultivators and 887 were agricultural labourers, ahead of 865 other workers in trade, transport and services. A further 263 people were marginal workers. Counting everyone, the village held 1,333 cultivators and 936 agricultural labourers: farming still employs most of Gharyala's workers.

Land and farming

There is almost no spare land in Gharyala. Of its 597 hectares, 584 hectares were net sown area in the 2011 record, and every sown hectare was irrigated, all of it by canal. Just 13 hectares were recorded as barren. The village farms nearly every hectare it owns, which is one reason its population presses so closely on its fields.

Schools, health and daily services

The Census 2011 Village Directory recorded one school at every level in Gharyala, from primary to senior secondary. The schools named in directory listings are the Government Senior Secondary School for girls and the Government Senior Secondary School for boys, Sant Sipahi Public School, Guru Angad Dev Public School, Shri Guru Ramdas Public School by the railway station and Sacred Heart Convent School. An anganwadi centre serves the village's young children.

Health is a strength here. The village has a community health centre, the referral level of rural government health care, together with a dispensary and a veterinary hospital. One gap stands out in the record: the ASHA worker was recorded as more than 10 kilometres away. Treated tap water was available in the village. Both a post office and a sub post office stand inside the village, and there is a PDS ration shop and mobile phone coverage. For banking, the co-operative bank is in the village, while the nearest commercial bank was more than 10 kilometres away and there was no ATM in 2011. Power supply was recorded at 10 hours a day for domestic use and 10 hours for agriculture.

Getting there

Gharyala is one of the few Punjab villages of its size that can be reached by train: its own station, GYL, has DEMU services towards Amritsar and Khem Karan through the day. Public and private bus services both serve the village, and pucca roads link it to Patti, 16 kilometres away, and to the Khemkaran road. Tarn Taran, the district headquarters, is about 35 kilometres away.

Does Gharyala have a railway station?

Yes. Gharyala station, code GYL, is a single-platform station on the Amritsar to Khem Karan line, served by DEMU trains through the day.

What is the population of Gharyala?

The population of Gharyala was 9,391 at the 2011 census, living in 1,711 households in Patti tehsil of Tarn Taran district. It had grown from 7,856 in 2001.

What health facilities does Gharyala have?

According to the Census 2011 Village Directory, Gharyala has a community health centre, a dispensary and a veterinary hospital inside the village.