Commercial Activity And Crops

Commercial Activity

Building of Tarbela Dam and Hydel Power Station on the right bank of river Indus has brought immense commercial activity and progress in the area including Marghuz. A no of people from Marghuz were employed at the time of construction of the Dam and also in Power Station now.

There is no industry or industrialist in Marghuz Village. Daily commodities are brought from Islamabad and Peshawar.  No ‘ghala mandi’ (grain market), no fish farms, no cattle farms in Marghuz. There is no surplus grain Wheat, Corn etc for export. Mostly Hindus were engaged in business. On their departure to India on eve of Partition, this vacuum was filled by non-lineage pukhtoons. As hand craft work is no more in demand, the craftsmen and artisans associated with it earn their livelihood by doing small businesses. These downtrodden people are no more dependent on land owning class. The dark night of their serfdom is coming to an end. Some changes are visible. A few of them are able to buy a house for themselves and educate their children in Schools.  The slum dwellings of Karam Baba Banda made on marsh land of Jabba and Main Baba Banda in the out skirts of Marghuz Village belong to them. One room houses and narrow streets but they are proud that it belongs to them.

Joining of service in forces and have equal opportunity in all walks of life like the lineage / segmentary pukhtoons, is still a dream.

The traditional land owning class did not enter into commerce and looked down upon it something inferior to their status. They took pride and rightly so by associating themselves with cultivation. The production from small land holdings is not sufficient for the family units.  Besides cultivation, land owning class has adopted other professions. More and more people enter the commerce and have started small businesses of their own.

Diesel Engine driven flour crushing plants were introduced and installed in Marghuz Bazaar in fifties  relieving the people from going to ‘Bata Kara’ village where water mills existed on river Indus. Donkeys were used to take the grain for crushing to watermills. Diesel Engines have now been replaced with electric driven induction motors. Wheat and Corn was also crushed in homes on a grinding stone rotated by hand. This was the first item for the day on ‘work to do’ list for the woman. This grinding stone ‘mechana’ was a dowry item. Its utility is gone and perhaps no more seen in homes.

I remember a steam engine driven bus plying between Marghuz and Mardan. ‘Kasht kare’ was the name of the driver. In late fifties when I used to go to Islamia College Peshawar there was only one bus run by Government Transport Department between Topi and Peshawar. For local transportation between adjoining villages ‘tangas’ driven by horses were used. Now a day a ‘Tanga’ is seldom seen on road. This has been replaced by rickshaw and ‘chanchi’ to the advantage of the people. Times have changed. Now, one can travel to Peshawar, Mardan and Islamabad the surrounding cities any time of the day. Movement of goods was carried usually on donkeys. Camels were also seen bringing wood from nearby hills to be used as fuel for cooking food. Movement of goods on roads is a common sight. Transportation of goods from one place to another in trucks, wagons and horse/donkey driven carts is seen on village road playing a role for boosting the economic activity in the area. 

Crops

There is plenty of water for irrigating the lands through canals emanating from river Indus. Also underground water is not brackish and tube well irrigation is extensively used. Wheat and Corn is the main grain product.

Marghuz is also known for another cash crop ‘tobacco’. It is grown on fertile lands surrounding the village. Laborious job but the yield are easily sold and readily gives cash to the farmers. Sugarcane is also grown but on limited area. It is not transported to Sugar Mills (nearby sugar mill is at Mardan some 60 KM away). It is locally crushed in improvised crushers and juice extracted is heated and converted in to ‘gur’. Tractors and tube wells have replaced bullocks for sowing and harvesting of crops and irrigation purposes.

Flash floods were a usual occurrence in Monsoon months July-August and played havoc in ‘Jabba’ and surrounding areas. With no proper drainage system, the storm water would flow down and inundate the bazaar (dheera) where from it would flow to ‘Parto gha khai Nala’ on the western side of neighboring village Thand koi. ‘Parto gha khai  Nala’ falls into river Indus which flows on the southern side of Marghuz / Thandkoi. Storm water is now evacuated to ‘Parto gha khai Nala’ in canals dug for the purpose by passing the Marghuz Village. It no more finds its way through the Marghuz Bazaar.

Floods would play havoc and mud houses would raze to the ground. With the exception of a few houses made of stones brought on donkeys from the hills in nearby village ‘Baja, Bam Khel and lime used as binding material, all the rest of the houses were made of mud. Use of bricks, sand, crushed stone, steel and cements for construction of houses is a recent phenomenon.

Storm water would accumulate and remained ponded throughout the year in low lying areas of the village. Buffaloes would swim in it and had good time staying in water in hot season.

Ponds in and around Marghuz were:

‘Khar Gaade’ a pond in between village Klabat and Marghuz.

‘Khoone Dand’ (bloody pond) a pond located on the eastern side of Khan khel Mosque. Why the name ‘khooni’? I don’t know of any causality occurring in this pond. But in rainy season the Khwedad Khel and Khan Khel tapa were cut off for days till the water level sub-sided and came down on account of evaporation.

Pond in front of ‘Kamral tapa’ on road side.

Pond in Karam Baba Banda/

All these ponds are now filled with earth and because these were ‘shamilat lands’ schools have been constructed upon these pieces of land for boys and girls. ‘Shamilat’ is a term used for the land belonging to all. Nobody had the sole claim upon it.

A religious Madrassa has been established on Karam Baba Banda Pond. I don’t know anything about Karam Baba but have seen oil lamps when oil was cheap lit on the grave. 

Mama-de:

This is an earth mound some 40 feet high, steep and spread over an area of one square kilometer at a distance of 3 kilometer from the center of Marghuz Dr Sohrab Hospital. Appears to be ruins of some past human habitat destroyed when river Indus was in flood and later changed its course. River Indus flows nearby at a distance of one and a half kilometer from the mound. Occasionally people find pieces of kiln baked pottery. The land is not ‘shamilat’ and is owned by individuals.