Biratnagar

Biratnagar (Nepali: विराटनगर) is a metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of the easternmost Koshi Province. With a Metropolitan Urban Agglomeration population of 244,750 per the 2021 census, it is the largest and the fastest growing city in the province. It is also the headquarters of the district of Morang. It is the administrative center of the Greater Birat Development Area which aims to connect Biratnagar with major nearby towns—including Itahari, Gothgau, Biratchowk, and Dharan—along the Koshi Highway, representing a combined, densely populated urban corridor sharing an estimated total population of 804,300 people across 159,332 households. Geographically, Biratnagar lies 399 km (248 mi) east of Kathmandu, 362 kilometers south of Kimathanka - the Nepalese counterpart of the Nepal-China border at Zhentang, and 6 km (3.7 mi) north of Jogbani - the bordering town in the Indian state of Bihar. Its connection with Kathmandu runs primarily through the East-West highway and secondarily through the mid-hill highway, with that of Kimathanka through the Koshi highway, and with that of Jogbani through the Rani Path (the old highway), the Koshi Path (the new highway), and the recently proposed Jogbani-Biratnagar rail link.

Biratnagar was declared a metropolitan city on 22 May 2017, where a merger with additional wards pushed its total population to over 240,000. 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 (initially known as Gograha Bazzar) 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 only city other than Birgunj to operate 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.