Jaitu

City in Punjab, India

Jaitu (sometimes written as Jaito, also known as Gangsar Jaitu) is a historical city. Jaitu is a municipal council in Faridkot district in the Indian state of Punjab. It is subdivision in Ferozepur Division. It is from Bathinda, from Ludhiana, from Amritsar, from Patiala and from Chandigarh.

According to some accounts, it took its name "Gangsar" from a folk story in which Guru Gobind Singh Ji visited the town and was sitting on a sand dune when he saw a saint crying. He asked the saint why he was crying to which the saint replied that he was crying because he lost his bowl in the Ganges river. After hearing his misfortune, the Guru fired off an arrow which struck the ground and opened a water source there fetching water and his lost bowl from the Ganges river. Later Gurdwara Tibbi Sahib Ji and Gurdwara Gangsar Sahib Ji were constructed on both the sites, on the sand dune where the Guru was sitting and where lake was opened. According to some accounts, it was a small village founded by Baba Jaitu and took its name "Jaitu" from him.

As of the 2001 India census, Jaitu had a population of 33,465. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Jaitu has an average literacy rate of 62%, lesser than the national average of 74%: male literacy is 67%, and female literacy is 56%. In Jaitu, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Jaitu is in the northwestern region of India and is a part of the Indo Gangetic alluvial plains which in a macro regional context forms a part of great Satluj Ganga plain. The exact cartographic co ordinates of Jaitu are It has an average elevation of The surrounding districts are Muktsar, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Moga and Barnala in Punjab and Sirsa in Haryana. The boundaries of the states of Haryana & Rajasthan is also under an hour's drive from Jaitu. It is a low lying flat area. The surface of the district is depositional plain which was formed by alleviation by the rivers in the remote past. No river is flowing through the district, but there are some drains which flow during heavy rains and serve as natural drainage. There is a vast network of canals i. e. Bikaner, Sirhind feeder and Rajasthan Canal passes through Faridkot district. Sirhind feeder, Rajasthan Canal and Abohar Branch of Sirhind canal run through the entire length of Faridkot district in north–south and northeast–southwest directions respectively. Sirhind Canal system has been serving the district for irrigation since long times.

The Punjab Roadways (Punbus) and PRTC and other Private Companies buses connects this city to other major cities of Punjab like Amritsar, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jallandhar, Patiala, Bathinda among others. Jaitu Railway Station lies in the Northern Railway zone of the Indian Railways network. Scheduled trains connect Jaitu to Delhi, Mumbai, Bathinda, Jammu, Jaipur, Ferozpur and Faridkot among other cities. Bathinda Airport is the nearest domestic airport (around 35 kilometers) to catch flights to various major cities of India.