1800
The region in which Fazilka town is presently located was a sandy tract on the banks of river Sutlej and was at the periphery of the Thar desert.Hot dust laden winds blew in the region shifting the dunes from one region to the other.(in recent times the Fazilka Abohar road would be covered with shifting sand dunes and it would be closed for several days, so was the case with meter gauge rail track from Fazilka to Kotakpura) The human habitations were limited to green areas around water patches. The quality of water derived from the ground water was good as compared to the present day supply which is ridden with excessive fluorides. The major profession was sheep herding. The agriculture, as we see it today, was not practiced at that time in 1800. the ground water was lifted by persion wheels fitted on the wells and pulled by a pair of bullocks moving on a rotary.the water was just sufficient to sustain small settlements. There were twelve villages with small population on the river bank belonging to muslim bribes of Wattus,
Chishties and bodlas,who had migrated to Fazilka region from across the river. There was not much claim to the arid land in this region till the arrival of officers of the east India Company who brought with them new techniques like hand pump for water lifiting.politically the Nawab of bahawalpur and Nawab of Mamdot had loose control over this region.
The English, with its East India Company were aggressively consolidating the area and vehemently wished to control the land on this side of the Sutlej, from its agencies at Ludhiana and Ambala. They parried the claims of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (the british spokesmen visited Amritsar in 1807 and 1827) for letting him control the firozpur region. And they were on the look out for a strategic place where from they could observe and safeguard the interests of their newly acquired dominions along the left bank of Sutlej from Ludhiana region to Bahawalpur region.
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Source: Fazilka - The Town of the Learned by Dr. Bhupinder Singh
