Sultanpur National Park - History

History

Sultanpur named after Rajput Chauhan Sultan Singh, descendant of Harsh Dev Chauhan( one of 21 sons of Raja Sangat Singh Chauhan), who founded Garhi Harsaru and established Dhundhoti, occupied it in 1474 Vikram Samwat after wresting it from Silar Muslims, was the biggest village (covering 52000 bighas of land) under Farrukhnagar and many of the present day villages around it have originated as 'dhanis' i.e. temporary farmer's shelters within the boundary of Sultanpur. The region around Sultanpur was called Dhundhoti. Sultanpur was the center of salt production for use in Delhi and the United Provinces till the late 19th century exporting annually 250000 quintals (680000 maunds) over the Rajputana-Malwa Railway. The railway train service was started in 1873 and at Sultanpur there were a couple of railway sidings for loading salt into the train wagons.

Salt was produced by extracting brine from about 40 wells using bullocks and drying in open plots. Since salt was one of the major sources of Government revenue the office of the salt superintendent at Sultanpur supervised the levy of Rs 2 tax per maund. With the levy of the heavy salt tax and acquisition of the Sambhar salt works in Rajputana by the British Indian Government the Sultanpur Salt became uneconomical and by 1903-4 the salt industry was struggling for survival with salt export having fallen to 65000 maunds leading to severe setback to the economy of the Sultanpur area. Finally, in 1923 the British shut down the office of the salt superintendent, had all the mounds of salt thrown back into the wells and shut down the salt industry leading to considerable economic misery to the people.

As a bird sanctuary it was the find of Peter Jackson, famous ornithologist, and Honorary Secretary of the Delhi Birdwatching Society, who wrote to Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, founder of the Society, in 1970 about the need to declare the Sultanpur jheel near Delhi, a bird sanctuary, and she asked him to take her there.

She had to cancel at the last minute, but later instructed the Chief Minister of Haryana to protect the jheel and in 1972, the Sultanpur Bird Reserve was established. On 07/13/1989 the reserve was upgraded to a National Park.

The area was declared a Bird sanctuary in 1972, and twenty years later in 1989, it was made a later a National Park. It has an area of 1.43 square kilometres. It is a protected area where over 250 species of birds have been sighted.

Earlier before the construction of bandhs and drainage areas around Sultanpur remained waterlogged and attracted a large numbers of migratory birds and hunters, many from the Diplomatic Corps at Delhi. Now however the bird sanctuary is artificially revived using pumped water from the Jamuna river. You are required to shown your identity card to enter sultanpur national park. Without Identity card, you will be denied entry . In addition,entry fee is INR 5.00