CHAKWAL: According to the block-wise provisional summary results of the 6th population and housing census 2017, Thoha Mahram Khan in Talagang tehsil has emerged as the largest village of the Chakwal district.

Having a population of 29,564, the village has 4,801 houses. It consists of scores of small hamlets called Dhoke. But despite being the largest village of the district, Thoha Mahram Khan remains a backward village.

Malkwal, the second largest village of the district, also belongs to Talagang. It has a population of 19,109 which live in 3,082 houses. Interestingly, Tamman, the third largest village of the district, is also located in Talagang. It has a population of 18,956 people with a total 3,218 houses.

According to provisional census result, Thoha Mahram Khan has a population of 29,564 and 4,801 houses

The historic village of Bhoun, which falls in tehsil Kallar Kahar, has registered itself as the fourth largest village of the district with a population of 18,822 and 3,539 houses.

Dhudial having a population of 17,090 and 2,791 houses, Lawa with a population of 15,627 and 2,902 houses, Pachnand with 15,121 population and 2,570 houses, Multan Khurd having a population of 14,686 and 2,722 houses, Odherwal Chakora with a population of 14,566 and 2,620 houses and Dhurnal having a population of 14,015 and 2,601 houses have emerged as the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth largest villages of the district respectively.

According to the Imperial Gazetteer of India published in 1908, the total population of tehsil Chakwal, which was a part of district Jhelum at that time, was 16,4912 as per the census of 1891.

Tehsil Chakwal was based on present day Chakwal city, Bhoun and 248 villages while Talagang was a part of Attock district.

However, according to the census of 1901, the population of tehsil Chakwal had been decreased by 4,596 to 160,316. The apparent reason was the plague called black death which broke out in India in 1896 and eliminated 12.5 million people in next few years. Chakwal was also among those areas which were severely hit by the plague.

In 1901, there was a small difference between the population of the present day Chakwal and Bhoun village which was a hub of trade in the area. According to the 1901 census, the population of present day Chakwal city was 6,520 while that of Bhoun village 5,340.

Chakwal was upgraded to the district level in 1985 and now the total population of the district has been recorded at 1,495,982 with the total households of 266,109. As many as 1,212,042 people of the district live in the rural area with 217,586 houses and 283,940 people live in urban area which has 48,524 households.

With a population of 656,978 and 115,850 households, Chakwal tehsil is the largest in the district. Around 518,832 people of the tehsil live in rural area which has 92,625 houses while 138,146 live in Chakwal city which has 23,225 households.

Talagang tehsil has a population of 401,607 and 71,750 households. As many as 337,752 people of the tehsil live in rural area which has 60,691 houses while 63,855 people live in Talagang city which has 11,059 houses.

Similarly, tehsil Kallar Kahar has recorded its population at 169,660 of which 125,857 people live in rural area while 43,803 people live in Kallar Kahar city. The total number of households in Kallar Kahar tehsil is 31,082 of which 23,469 houses belong to rural area while 7,613 houses exist in Kallar Kahar city.

Tehsil Choa Saidan Shah’s total population has been registered as 141,844 with 24,831 households of which 119,335 people live in rural area which consists of 21,106 houses while 22,509 people live in city which has 3,725 houses.

The newly carved out tehsil Lawa has recorded its population at 125,893 and 22,596 houses. Around 110,266 people of Lawa tehsil live in rural area which has 19,694 houses while 15,627 have been tagged as urban population which lives in Lawa town which has 2,902 houses.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2018