Birgunj: Gateway of Nepal 

Birjung

Birgunj is a metropolitan municipality and border town in Parsa District in the Narayani Zone of southern Nepal. It lies 283 km (176 mi) south of the capital Kathmandu, attached to north of the border of the Indian state of Bihar. As an entry point to Nepal from Patna and Kolkata, it is known as the "gateway to Nepal". The town has significant economic importance for Nepal as most of its trade with India is via Birgunj and the Indian town of Raxaul. Tribhuvan Highway links Birgunj to Nepal's capital, Kathmandu.

 
Birgunj was established as a conglomerate of several villages in and around Gahawa village. Gahawai Mai Temple remains the epicenter of the town. The settlement was named after the Rana Prime Minister Bir Shamsher, thus acquiring the name Birgunj. According to the 2011 Census, Birgunj had a population of 139,068. It is the biggest city in Narayani Zone and the headquarters of Parsa District. In addition to Nepali, several other languages are spoken, including Bhojpuri, Hindi, Maithili and English. Nepali is the official language.

Economy

Birgunj is a major business centre of Nepal, especially for trade with India. Almost all trade with India occurs through this route. The Indian border town of Raxaul has become one of the busiest towns for heavy transportation due to high trade volume. The 29 km (18 mi) distance from Birgunj to Pathlaiya is the busiest highway in Nepal. Most industries are represented, including agriculture, chemicals, textiles, wood, petroleum, etc.[2] Almost 56% of the total products of Birgunj are exported to the Indian state of Bihar.

Infrastructure

As an important business hub of Nepal, infrastructure and facilities are being improved continuously.

The biggest building in the city is Triveni Gopal Complex, followed by Ganesh Apartment and Laxmi Compartment. Markets include Rungta Market, Sarraf Market, New Market, and Pumpum Building. New buildings are being built,[when?] including Nepal Telecom, Siddartha Bank, and Pujan Hotel. The Nepal Telecom building, in particular, has been built with modern techniques.

Birgunj has luxurious hotels like Hotel Visuwa, Hotel Makalu, Hotel Suraj, Baba International Hotel, Kailash Hotel, Hotel Kumu Palace serving international food in a lodging facility.Two Mini Casinos are available in Town.

Transport

Birgunj was the only city that connected the capital city with India. Birgunj railway station was connected by the Nepal Government Railway (NGR) to Raxaul station in Bihar across the border with India. The 47 km (29 mi) railway extended north to Amlekhganj in Nepal. It was built in 1927 by the British but discontinued beyond Birgunj in December 1965. The 6 km (3.7 mi) railway track from Raxaul to Birgunj was converted to broad gauge two years after the Indian railways converted the track to Raxaul inside India to broad gauge. Now, broad gauge railway line connects Raxaul to the Sirsiya (Birgunj) Inland Container Depot (ICD) that became fully operational in 2005. Talks have been held to reopen the railway route from Birgunj to Amlekhganj in Nepal by converting it to broad gauge because of its socio-economic importance. Trains run to major cities of India from Raxaul, including the Satyagraha express to Delhi, Mithila express to Kolkata, Lokmanya Tilak express to Mumbai, and HYD-RXL express to Hyderabad.

Goods are transported to and from India via Birgunj dry port, which is the key terminal of surface cargo delivery to Nepal. This cargo point on the south connects the heart of the country, Kathmandu, via another key industrial city, Hetauda. It is also served by Tribhuvan Highway, extending from the Indian border at Raxaul through Birgunj and Hetauda to Kathmandu with frequent bus service. Simara Airport — 18 km (11 mi) north near the highway in Pipara Simara, Bara district — offers scheduled flights to Kathmandu.

India and Nepal have an open border with no restrictions on the movement of their citizens. There is a customs checkpoint for the movement of goods and third country nationals.[clarification needed]

Education

 This section may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (August 2015)Education in Birgunj started with the establishment of Trijuddha Secondary School during Rana Regime. It was also first SLC centre after Kathmandu.

Birgunj is an education solution to many villages associated to Parsa and other surrounding districts. A majority of students from villages prefer Birgunj as their career-making place.

There are many colleges associated to Tribhuvan University (TU) of Nepal and Purbanchal University (PU). Thakur Ram Multiple Campus is the government college that has the most reasonable fee and qualified faculties.

Primary and secondary schools include Gyanda Academy, Delhi Public School, DAV, Gautam School, Children's World School, Kadambari Academy, etc.

Other colleges include National Infotech College, which is dedicated to science and technology and BPC College, which is a management college. National Medical College is the largest private hospital of the zone It offers MBBS study and has students from India, Pakistan and other nearby countries.

Birgunj Institute of Technology is the only engineering diploma college in Birgunj affiliated with CTEVT.

Sports

The city has its own Stadium,Narayani Stadium which is Nepal's second largest stadium after Dasarath Rangasala.The Stadium has capacity of 15000 seats.Recently the stadium is poor in condition.The city is known as the cricket hub of Nepal. Nepali National Cricket Team's players- Aarif sheikh and Avinash Karn hail from Birgunj.

Media

Birgunj has many FM community radio stations including Radio Birgunj, Narayani FM, Bhojpuriya FM, Tarie FM, Indreni FM, etc. and several websites focused on local news and events. It is covered by the national television station, Terai Television (TTV), Birgunj Television (BTV).

2006 unrest

On 18 May 2006 the parliament of Nepal declared that the country would become a secular state. This led to unrest by Hindu fundamentalist groups across Nepal; the town of Birgunj was forced to close for two days.

2015 Nepal earthquake

The town shook during an earthquake on 25 April 2015. However, the town did not suffer any damage.

Birgunj had been destroyed during the 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, along with its telephone line to Kathmandu.

Parsa District (Headquarter: Birganj)

• Alau

• Amarpatti

• Auraha

• Bagahi

• Bagbana

• Bageshwari

• Bahauri Pidari

• Bahuarba Bhatha

• Basadilwa

• Basantpur

• Belwa Parsauni

• Beriya Birta

• Bhawanipur

• Bhedihari

• Bhisawa

• Bijbaniya

• Bindyabasini

• Biranchibarba

• Biruwa Guthi

• Bisrampur

• Charani

• Deukhana

• Dhaubini

• Gadi

• Gamhariya

• Ghoddauda Pipra

• Ghore

• Govindapur

• Hariharpur

• Hariharpur Birta

• Harapataganj

• Harpur

• Jagarnathpur Sira

• Jaimanglapur

• Janikatala

• Jitpur

• Jhauwa Guthi

• Kauwa Ban Kataiya

• Lahawarthakari

• Lakhanpur

• Lal Parsa

• Langadi

• Lipani Birta

• Madhuban Mathaul

• Mahadevpatti

• Mahuwan

• Mainiyari

• Mainpur

• Mikhampur

• Mirjapur

• Mosihani

• Mudali

• Nagardaha

• Nirchuta

• Nirmal Basti

• Pancharukhi

• Parsauni Birta

• Parsauni Bhatha

• Parvati Tola-Warwa

• Paterwa Sugauli

• Pidariguthi

• Pokhariya

• Prasurampur

• Ramgadhawa

• Ramnagari

• Sabaithawa

• Sakhuwa Parsauni

• Samjhauta

• Shankar Saraiya

• Sapauli

• Sedhawa

• Shiva Worga

• Sirsiya Khalwatola

• Sonbarsa

• Srisiya

• Subarnapur

• Sugauli Birta

• Sugauli Partewa

• Supauli

• Surjaha

• Thori

• Tulsi Barba

• Udayapur Dhurmi

• Vauratar