Mehar Taluka

Mehar Taluka تعلقا ميھڙ
میہڑ
Tehsil Mehar highlighted in red
Coordinates: 27°10′42″N 67°49′25″E / 27.17833°N 67.82361°E / 27.17833; 67.82361
Country	Pakistan
Province	Sindh
District	Dadu District
Established	1848; 178 years ago (1848)
Founder	British Raj
Government
• Deputy Commissioner Dadu	Jawad Ali Soomro
• Constituency	Constituencies | NA-228 Dadu-I, PS-80 Dadu-I (partly), PS-81 Dadu-II
Area
• Total	928 km2 (358 sq mi)
Elevation	43 m (141 ft)
Highest elevation	50 m (160 ft)
Lowest elevation	37 m (121 ft)
Population  (2023)
• Total	520,559
• Density	560.95/km2 (1,452.9/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+05:00 (PKT)
• Summer (DST)	DST is not observed
ZIP Code	76330
NWD (area) code	025
ISO 3166 code	PK-SD

Mehar Taluka (Sindhi: ميهڙ ,Urdu: میہڑ) is an administrative subdivision (taluka) of Dadu District of Hyderabad Division in the Sindh province of Pakistan. According to the 2023 Pakistani census, Mehar Taluka had a population of 520,559. It has an area of 928 km² and is divided into 20 union councils. It has an overall literacy rate of 43.05% (Note: this accounts only for people aged 10 or above). Mehar is mostly an agrarian region supported by the Western Nara Canal network. Mehar has a developing network of educational institutions.

History

According to records, in 1848 Mehar Taluka was created during British rule with the town of Mehar as the headquarters. The taluka, along with the rest of Sindh, was for a time part of the Bombay Presidency of British India.

When it was made a taluka under British rule in 1848, Mehar was part of Larkana. It remained as part of Larkana until Dadu became a new district in 1931.

Many local verbal traditions suggest that the name "Mehar" is derived from the Sindhi terms such as Menhan-war or Menhan-waro, historically designating a landscape rich in livestock and grazing grounds along the Kirthar foothills. Human settlement in the area was built near the natural sources.

Before British rule, during the 17th and 18th centuries, the region of modern Mehar Taluka was a frontier administrative and agricultural zone under the rule of the Kalhora, Heavily shaped by the socio-religious influence of the Mianwal Movement championed by figures like Mian Naseer Muhammad Kalhoro and, later the Talpur dynasties of Sindh dominated the region. Mehar is situated near the foothills of the Kirthar Mountains. It historically connected upper Indus plains with trade routes stretching towards Balochistan. Local governance during that period was dependent on tribal alliance and localized revenue collection, with most of the population settling along the natural water channels.

The Imperial Gazetteer of India, written over a century ago during British rule, describes the taluka as follows:

It was once a taluka in Sindh province's Larkana District "Mehar.- Tāluka of Lārkāna District, Sindh, Bombay, lying between elev 162ft, with an area of 328 square miles. The population in 1901 was 58,434, compared with 48,320 in 1891. The tāluka contains 64 villages, of which Mehar is the headquarters. The density, 178 persons per square mile, greatly exceeds the District average. The land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to 2.8 lakhs. The tāluka is irrigated by the Western Nāra and one of its feeders, the stable crop is jowār and rice. Prior to the floods of 1874 Mehar was fertile, but the water has now become brackish and all gardens have perished. Cultivation near the hills on the west depends entirely on rainfall."

Demographics

According to the 2023 Pakistani census there were 519,238 spoke Sindhi, 477 Urdu, 306 Pashto, 264 Brahui, 82 Punjabi, 82 Hindko, 20 Balochi, 5 Saraiki, 1 Kashmiri & 84 others.

Administrative divisions

Mehar Taluka (Sindhi: ميهڙ) is administratively subdivided into 20 Union Councils and 47 deh (revenue units)

Locality

Mehar is a town in Dadu District. It is administered by the Government of Sindh. It is subdivided into 20 Union Councils. The most prominent local political figures include the members of the Jatoi family and the former provincial minister Fayaz Ali Butt. Betto is the hometown of former chief minister of Sindh Liaquat Ali Jatoi, and village Butt Serai is the hometown of provincial minister Fayaz Ali Butt.

Economy and Agriculture

The economy of Mehar is mostly agrarian, with most of the people in Mehar directly or indirectly relying on agricultural commerce. The fertile land of Mehar is supported by the extensive network of canals supplied by the Indus River.

Agriculture and irrigation

Agriculture forms the backbone of the local economy. The primary water source sustaining the whole region's agricultural base is the Western Nara Canal, with the Kakul Waah acting as a secondary water source. This way, Mehar is able to produce both winter and summer crops:

Major crops: Rice and wheat are the most commonly grown crops of the region. However, Sorghum (jowar), Common sunflower and Sugarcane are also cultivated across the region.

Specialty crops: Mehar is known for its Henna (mehndi) and has become a major hub for the cultivation, processing, and supplying of henna in the region.

Challenges: The region is frequently affected by severe flooding, heavy rainfall, soil salinity, and the recurring water shortages at the tails of irrigation canals.

Education

According to the 2023 Pakistan census, Mehar had a population of 520,559 people, out of whom 43.05% were literate. Of the 152,662 total literate individuals, 92,111 were male and 60,543 were female, indicating a notable gender gap. Education in the sub-district is managed by the Sindh Education and Literacy Department; it has a network of public primary, middle, and high schools across the 20 union councils of Mehar.

For intermediate and higher education, the region has public institutions like the Government Degree College Mehar, which offers various academic programs in pre-engineering, pre-medical, and humanities. Moreover, Mehar has multiple private schools and vocational training centres. The literacy and enrolment rates across the region have been improving.

List of some public institutions in Mehar

1. Government Boys Degree College, Mehar
2. Government Girls Degree College, Mehar
3. Government High School No. 1, Mehar

Aside from these institutions, there is no full-fledged public university in Mehar and students in the taluka often travel to pursue their further studies at the University of Sindh (Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Campus, Dadu) or some may look towards Jamshoro or Hyderabad to study in Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) or University of Sindh Jamshoro.

Geography and Climate

Mehar Taluka lies in the central part of Sindh Province and forms part of the lower Indus plain. The region is mainly flat terrain and agricultural land. The area has a hot, arid climate, typical of much of inland Sindh. Summers in Mehar are usually very hot, reaching as high as 47 °C, while winters are usually mild. Most of the heavy monsoon rainfall occurs during July and August, although precipitation varies from year to year. The taluka, which covers 928 km², has a landscape consisting mainly of cultivated fields and rural settlements. The taluka has an average elevation of about 43 metres above the sea level. Mehar remains vulnerable to flash floods originating from the western hill torrents.

Vegetation of Mehar

Because of geography of Mehar; near villages, old sections of town, and canal banks, you will often find sturdy trees such as Babul (Acacia nilotica), Neem (Azadirachta indica) very famous in the region for its cooling shade and medicinal leaves, Kandi (Prosopis cineraria) a hard desert tree that can survive severe droughts and feeds local livestock.

In the west of Mehar there are rocky hills and dry stream beds. The plants are tough and need limited quantity of water to survive. More names of plants are: Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana), Ak (Calotropis procera), last but not least khumbat (Acacia senegal). These plants are whom found in Mehar.

The 2022 Floods

Mehar was strongly hit by the floods in 2022 along with many of its neighbouring towns like Khairpur Nathan Shah (K.N. Shah). The 2022 floods submerged large parts of Sindh, when torrential monsoon rains along with overflowing water from Main Nara Valley (MNV) Drain and hill torrents such as the Gaaj River, which flows from the Kirthar Mountains. As a result massive parts of Mehar taluka and hundreds of surrounding villages were under 10 to 12 feet of flood water. Massive amounts of people were displaced and local authorities scrambled to build and strengthen protective ring bunds to save the town from complete inundation.

Healthcare

Healthcare infrastructure in Mehar is mainly managed by the public sector under the Government of Sindh’s Health Department; it also has multiple private clinics and pharmacies. Public medical services are served by the Taluka Headquarters (THQ) Hospital, Mehar, which is the principal secondary-care and first-level referral facility for the sub-district's population of over 520,000 people and has 35 beds in it. In all 20 union councils of the taluka, main healthcare system is extended through a decentralized network of facilities including Rural Health Centers (RHCs) and Basic Health Units (BHUs), which largely handle the public care, immunizations, and primary outpateint consultations.

Public healthcare facilities handle heavy patient numbers daily, treating thousands of outpatients monthly. The region is mainly victimized by seasonal and environmental conditions. Outpatient departments (OPDs) experience massive inflows of patients, who are ill because of waterborne and gastrointestinal illnesses (such as acute diarrhoea, typhoid, and gastroenteritis), cases of these illnesses typically spike during monsoon seasons and post-flood periods. Moreover, vector-borne diseases, particularly malaria and dengue fever represent a major chunk of seasonal admissions.

References