Ludhiana - Geography

Geography

Ludhiana is located at 30°54′N 75°51′E / 30.9°N 75.85°E / 30.9; 75.85. It has an average elevation of 244 metres (798 ft). Ludhiana City, to its residents, consists of the Old City and the New City (or the residential and official quarters of the Colonial British encampment, traditionally known as Civil Lines; this is as opposed to the Army Lines, which are no longer extant as the British Cantonment was abandoned in 1845).

The land dips steeply to the North and the West, where prior to 1785 the river Sutlej used to run.

The Old Fort was situated at the banks of the Sutlej (and now houses The College of Textile Engineering) and legend has it that an underground tunnel connects it to the Fort in Phillaur - although why this should be is debatable, as the Sutlej was the traditional dividing line between the two principalities, often occupied by enemy forces (see History section)

The ground is of yellow sandstone and granite, forming small hillocks, plateaus and dips.

The tree of largest natural extraction was the kikar, or Acacia indica but has been supplanted by the Eucalyptus, transplanted from rural Australia in the late 1960s by the government of Chief Minister Pratap Singh Kairon.

Gulmohars and Jacarandas were planted by the British along the avenues of Civil Lines, as were other flowering trees, while the Old City contains almost no vegetation or parks, except for a few isolated pipal trees, holy to the Hindus, as it is supposed to be the abode of Lord Shiva.