Biratnagar

關於Biratnagar

Biratnagar (Nepali: विराटनगर) is the capital and largest & fastest growing city of the easternmost Koshi Province, Nepal. The city had a population of 244,750 at the 2021 census. It is also the headquarters of the district of Morang.

Biratnagar was declared a metropolitan city on 22 May 2017 with the merger of additional wards from different local bodies. Based on the 2021 census, it is the sixth largest city of Nepal in terms of population.

As the home to Nepal's first large-scale industry, the Biratnagar Jute Mills, the city is also popularly known as the industrial capital of Nepal. The city has contributed actively to the Nepalese democracy movement by being the birthplace of five democratically elected prime ministers and that of an interim prime minister of Nepal. The latter claim is also evident from the fact that the first labor strike leading to the anti-Rana movement started from Biratnagar.

Modern-day Biratnagar serves as an entry point to eastern Nepal as well as north-eastern India. It is the second Nepalese city, after Janakpur, to have a connection with the Indian Railways and the city operates an integrated check post (ICP) on the Indian border. It is also the starting point of the Koshi highway, which forms one of the three crucial Nepalese north-south corridors that are designed to connect India and China via land.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.