Kohat Town
Kohat Town, 1908
Head-quarters of the District and tahsil of the same name, North-West Frontier Province, situated in 33 degree 35' N. and 71 degree 26' E., on the Khushalgarh-Thal branch of the North- Western Railway, 30 miles from Khushalgarh. Population (1901), 30,762, of whom 19,807 are Muhammadans, 7,833 Hindus, and 2,832 Sikhs. The population in the cantonment, included in the above total, was 12,670. The present town of Kohat has sprung up since annexation. It lies in an amphitheatre of hills at some distance from the site of the old town, which is said to have been founded by the Bangash in the fourteenth century. It is built on undulating ground with excellent natural drainage. The cantonment and civil station stand on high ground to the east and north-east of the native town. The gar- rison consists ordinarily of a mountain battery, some frontier garrison artillery, one native cavalry regiment, and three native infantry regi- ments. The municipality was constituted in 1873. The income during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 40,700, and the expenditure Rs. 36,000. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 50,500, chiefly derived from octroi ; and the expenditure was Rs. 83,400. This sum includes an investment of Rs. 30,000 in Government securities. The receipts and expenditure of cantonment funds during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 5,600 and Rs. 5,500 respectively. The chief public institutions are the Anglo-vernacular high school maintained by the municipality, a civil hospital, and a female hospital. The town is of no commercial importance, but has a small manufacture of lungls or turbans. Rifles used to be made at the neighbouring village of Jangal Khel, but the industry is now quite extinct.
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
