City

A kot on the Indus, then a district on the map

Kot Addu is a river town that became a district capital. The name is straightforward: a kot raised by Addu Khan. The story since then is canals, rail, power plants, and a 2022 map change that finally put the city’s name on a district board.

The name is the story in miniature. Kot means a fortified town; Addu is the Mirani chief credited with founding it around 1500. This page gathers the city’s history, the 2022 district, notable people, civic services, and census facts.

History District People Schools & health Facts

History

From Adduda Kot to headquarters

c. 1500

A walled kot

Addu Khan, of the Mirani line associated with Ghazi Khan, established a defensive settlement. The place was known as Adduda Kot — a kot (fortified town) named for Addu. A bastion wall was built to protect inhabitants on the exposed Indus plain.

Mughal era – 1849

Imperial fringe

The region sat on the southern Punjab frontier of the Mughal world. Afghan Pashtun administrators were among those appointed to govern it before Sikh and then British control.

1849–1947

British Punjab

After 1849 the area was folded into colonial Punjab. Canal colonization and the railway later stitched Kot Addu into the Indus irrigation grid that still defines the district.

1947 onward

Tehsil of Muzaffargarh

After independence Kot Addu remained a tehsil of Muzaffargarh District. The city grew with canals, the rail junction, sugar, and — from the 1980s — thermal power on the river.

October 2022

A district of its own

Punjab created Kot Addu District, splitting it from Muzaffargarh. The city is the headquarters. Administration sits in Dera Ghazi Khan Division, with two tehsils: Kot Addu and Chowk Sarwar Shaheed.

District

Kot Addu District, since 2022

Until October 2022 this was a tehsil of Muzaffargarh. The new district recognised a region that already had its own rail junction, energy plants, and canal command. Headquarters: this city. Division: Dera Ghazi Khan.

Tehsil

Kot Addu

1,686 km² · 1,072,180 people (2023 census)

Tehsil

Chowk Sarwar Shaheed

1,785 km² · 414,578 people (2023 census)

Punjab

Administration

1,486,758 people across 3,471 km². Area code 066.

Union councils

Commonly published names for the old tehsil / current district. Boundaries can shift; this is orientation, not a legal roll.

Haider Ghazi
Bait Qaimwala
Bhari Hoog
Budh
Chak No. 547/TDA
Chak No. 565/TDA
Chak No. 632/TDA
Chowk Sarwar Shaheed
Daira Din Panah
Dogar Kalasra
Ghazi Ghatt
Hinjrai
Ehsanpur
Kot Addu No. 1
Kot Addu No. 2
Kot Addu No. 3
Manhan Sharif
Mehmood Kot
Mirpur Bhagal
Pattal Monda
Pattal Kot Addu
Patti Ghulam Ali
Sanawan
Shadi Khan Monda
Sheikh Umer
Thatha Gurmani
Gujrat
Wahandur
Pirhar
Chalarrwala
Noor Shah
Basti Sirai
Alu Rid

People

Voices from the river districts

Birthplaces in this belt are argued over. The notes stay conservative: people with a widely reported tie to the city, the district, or the tehsil that preceded it.

Saraiki singer · 1926–2000

Pathanay Khan

A Pride of Performance vocalist whose kafis and folk songs are still the sound of this countryside. He is the cultural name most often tied to the district.

Diplomat and politician · b. 1977

Hina Rabbani Khar

Former foreign minister of Pakistan, from a political family with deep roots in this part of southern Punjab.

Former governor and chief minister of Punjab · b. 1937

Ghulam Mustafa Khar

A dominant provincial figure of the 1970s, associated with the Khar political tradition of the Muzaffargarh–Kot Addu belt.

Former governor of West Pakistan · 1905–1981

Nawab Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani

A senior Muslim League politician whose family seat is in the Gurmani lands of the district.

Film actor, singer, and producer · 1928–1999

Inayat Hussain Bhatti

A Punjabi and Urdu cinema all-rounder, remembered as one of the area’s early entertainment figures.

Athlete · 1929–2021

Milkha Singh

The “Flying Sikh” was born in Gobindpura, then in Muzaffargarh District — the same colonial tehsil geography that later became Kot Addu District. His story is partition as much as sport.

Civic

Schools, college, and the THQ

Health

THQ Hospital Kot Addu

The tehsil headquarters hospital is the main public facility in the city, supplemented by smaller public and private clinics in the union councils.

Technical

Govt. College of Technology (GCT)

GCT Kot Addu trains technicians for the industrial belt around the river — a practical counterpart to the degree colleges.

Higher secondary / degree

Degree colleges

Government and private colleges serve men and women. Several campuses are affiliated with Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, and the University of the Punjab.

Schooling

Schools

The city has a dense private-school market alongside government schools, including well-known Punjab Group, Dar-e-Arqam, and other chains with local campuses.

Official

Municipal Committee Kot Addu

Notices, taxes, and civic services are on the municipal site. This guide is independent.

Open mckotaddu.lgpunjab.org.pk

Facts

Numbers that hold still

Some older city pages publish impossible population counts. Figures here follow Pakistan Bureau of Statistics census series.

City population

1951	10,507
1961	13,107
1972	21,409
1981	37,479
1998	80,720
2017	129,703
2023	142,161

District population

1951	143,009
1961	184,639
1972	313,137
1981	449,493
1998	808,438
2017	1,347,501
2023	1,486,758

Coordinates: 30.47°N, 70.96°E
Elevation: 133 m
Climate: Arid
Postal code: 34050
Area code: 066
Best visit: October to March

Languages (district, 2023)

Saraiki — about 80% of the district
Punjabi — about 12%
Urdu — about 5%
Pashto — about 3%

Very hot summers, mild winters, dust storms, and a short monsoon. Land near Taunsa Barrage can flood.