Top Places to visit in Bathinda, Punjab

Bathinda is a city and Municipal Corporation in Southern part of Punjab, India. It is one of the oldest cities in Punjab, India and the current administrative headquarters of Bathinda District. It is in northwestern India in the Malwa Region, 227 km west of the capital city of Chandigarh and is the fifth largest city of Punjab. Bathinda's nicknamed the 'City of Lakes', courtesy of the artificial lakes in the city. The first empress Delhi Sultanate Razia Sultan was imprisoned in the Qila Mubarak fort in Bathinda. The gurudwara and mazaar of Haji Rattan is a popular tourist centre of Bathinda having connections with popular legends.

Bathinda is a home of Central University of Punjab and upcoming AIIMS. Bathinda is home to two modern thermal power plants, Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant and Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant at Lehra Mohabbat. The city has a fertilizer plant, a large oil refinery, two cement plants (Ambuja Cements and UltraTech Cement Limited), a large army cantonment, an air force station, a zoo, and a historic Qila Mubarak fort. Bathinda is one of the largest food grain and cotton markets in northern India; the area around Bathinda is a prolific grape growing area.

Industry and Economy

Bathinda is an upcoming industrial city. Major industries in the city and its suburbs include:

National Fertilizer Ltd, Bathinda

Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, Bathinda (will be decommissioned soon)

Ambuja Cements Ltd, Malout Road, Bathinda

Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, a joint project between HPCL and Mittal Energy Limited.

Ultra Tech Cement Ltd, Lehra Mohabbat

Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant, Lehra Mohabbat

Bathinda District Co-op Producer Union Milk Plant, Bathinda

Vardhman Polytex Ltd, Badal Road, Bathinda

BCL Industries & Infrastructure Ltd, Hazi Rattan, Bathinda

Several sugar mills, brick kilns, and food processing plants are also located in the city and its suburbs.

Transportation

Bhatinda Railway Station has connectivity to most of the major cities in India. Four national highways: NH 7 (Fazilka - Badrinath National Highway), NH 54 (Kenchiyan, Hanumangarh - Pathankot National Highway), NH 148B (Bathinda to Kotputli) and NH 754 (Bathinda to Jalalabad, Fazilka) pass through/near the city. Like most cities in Punjab, Bathinda is also well connected by bus to major nearby cities. Buses provide to and fro connectivity to Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, New Delhi, Shimla, Amritsar, Jaipur and several other cities. Bathinda Airport, which shares its runway with the Air Force station in Bhisiana, opened to the public in 2016. As of 2018, flights ply only to and from Jammu and New Delhi.

Places of Interest

Qila Mubarak

Main article: Qila Mubarak

Qila Mubarak, also known locally as the Razia Sultana fort is located in the heart of the city. It is one of the oldest forts in India and has a great historical significance. Razia Sultana, the first Empress of Delhi, was imprisoned in the fort. It is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India and is frequented by both local and foreign tourists.

Damdama Sahib

Main article: Takht Sri Damdama Sahib

Damdama Sahib is a Sikh gurudwara in Talwandi Sabo, a suburb 28km southeast of the city. It is known for being the place where the tenth Sikh guru prepared the final version of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the definitive Sikh scripture. It is one of the Panj Takhts, or five seats of temporal authority of Sikhism.

Maiser Khana

Main article: Maiser Khana

Maiser Khana is a famous Hindu temple dedicated to goddess Jwala Ji, situated 29km southeast of the city. It is known for two grand melas (fairs) held every year, visited by tens of thousands of devotees.

Education

School Education & Exam Coaching Institutions

Delhi Public School, Bathinda

The city has many prestigious school chains too - S.S.D. Senior Secondary School (Boys) is one of the oldest educational institutes and many English medium schools have also come up in the city during the last 30 years. DAV Public School, Delhi Public School and Police Public School have their branches in the city. Several reputed Catholic schools are present in the city, such as St. Joseph's convent school and St. Xavier's Senior Secondary School. Other schools include Shri Guru Hargobind Convent School (Nathana) and St. Paul's High School (affiliated to ICSE board). Bathinda is also a hub for competitive examination coaching. Several coaching institutes for medical (NEET, AIIMS) and non-medical (JEE Main, JEE advanced) entrance examinations are present in the city. This has led to a large youth population influx into Bathinda, especially around the Ajit Road area. The city also has institutions for preparation of competitive examination like CAT, S.S.C., Bank etc.

College Education

The city has many colleges (both government and private) offering graduate and post-graduate courses. Some of them are:

DAV College

Government Rajindra College, Bathinda

Guru Kashi University

Baba Farid College

Bathinda College of Law

Central University of Punjab

Central University of Punjab, Bathinda

The Central University of Punjab Bathinda (Punjab) has been established through the Central Universities Act 2009 which received the assent of the President of India on 20 March 2009. Its territorial jurisdiction extends to the whole State of Punjab.

It started its functioning from Camp Office in April 2009, which happens to be the residence of the Vice Chancellor, and from November 2009 it shifted to its City Campus spread over an area of 35 acres. Construction of the main campus has started on 540 acres of land in Ghudda Village (21.5 km from Bathinda ISBT) on Badal Road. Engineers India Limited, a Navratna Public Sector Undertaking, is providing PMC services for the project.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University (MRSPTU), formerly Maharaja Ranjit Singh State Technical University, is a State technical university of Punjab located in Bathinda, Punjab, India. It was established in 2015 and has jurisdiction over 11 districts namely Bathinda, Ferozepur, Moga, Faridkot, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Barnala, Mansa, Sangrur, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib and Fazilka. University will function from upgraded Giani Zail Singh Punjab Technical University Campus.

Adesh Institute of Medical Science and Research

Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences & Research (AIMSR) is a private not for profit Medical College associated with a 750-bed Tertiary Care Teaching hospital. It has 150 M.B.B.S. annual seat intake. The college is located on the Barnala Bathinda Highway. The college was established in 2006 under Adesh Institutions. AIMSR is approved by Medical Council of India and permitted by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. It was affiliated to Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot from 2006 to 2011 MBBS Admissions Batch and is affiliated to Adesh University, Bathinda starting 2012.

Sports

Bathinda (and the Malwa region of north India) has always been active in the field of sports. Several eminent sporting personalities were born or were trained in Bathinda (see Notable People). The city has a full-sized hockey stadium with Astroturf, an all-seater multipurpose sports stadium with capacity of over 10,000, a cricket ground (part of Police lines), a Golf course (Part of Cantonment), and several other multipurpose stadiums at Thermal colony, Railway Colony etc. There are also several indoor sports complexes, a tennis academy, several full-sized basketball courts, olympic-sized swimming pools, and a horse-riding club in the city. The city was approved as a site for development of an international cricket ground in 2007, but the plan was scrapped 8 years later due to lack of funds.

Shopping and Entertainment Centers

City Center Mall — Built by Amravati Infrastructure in collaborated with the Satya Group, this is the city's first mall. It is designed by India 's ace architect Mr. Mohit Gujral. The mall is spread across 1,00,000 sqr. ft. space.

Mittal's City Mall — Built by Ganpati Township ltd, it is considered to be an entertainment and retail project. City Mall is spread over 3 lakh square feet and it has 8 floors.

Peninsula Mall — Built by HBN group the mall consists of around 2,50,000 sq. ft of retail space, sprawling across 5 floors with a view of lakes.

Chill-o-Thrill water park

Rose Garden

Bir Talab Zoo and Deer Safari

Military Bases

Due to its proximity to the India-Pakistan border, Bathinda has two strategically important military bases.

Bathinda Cantonment is the largest in India and one of the largest in Asia. It lies just east of the city border, and the NH 7 passes through it. It houses one of the biggest ammunition depots in the country.

Bathinda Air force station lies in Bhisiana, which lies 20km north west of the city center. Along with regular aircraft, it also houses unmanned aerial vehicles and early warning aircraft. The station also doubles as a civil domestic airport for the city.

Notable People

Harbhajan Mann, actor and singer

Rajinder Gupta, businessman, founder of TridentGroup

Mehar Mittal, actor and producer

Mayank Markande, cricketer

Manny Aulakh, Canadian international cricketer

Avneet Sidhu, Commonwealth games gold winning shooter

Parduman Singh Brar, Shotputter, Asiad gold medallist

Balkar Sidhu, singer

Amrit Maan, actor, singer and lyricist

Balwant Gargi, writer and dramatist

Amardeep Singh Gill, film director