Chitwan District


Chitwan District is one of 77 districts of Nepal, and is located in the southwestern part of Bagmati Pradesh with Bharatpur, the second largest city of Nepal after capital, as its district headquarter. It covers an area of, and in 2011 had a population of 579,984 people. Bharatpur is a commercial and service centre of central south Nepal and major destination for higher education, health care and transportation in the region. Chitwan lies in terai region of Nepal.

History

The district takes its name from the Chitwan Valley, one of Nepal's Inner Terai valleys between the Mahabharat and Siwalik ranges, both considered foothills of the Himalayas.
Narayangadh is located on the banks of the Narayani River, and is the main town with numerous shopping zones where people come from all over the district and neighbouring districts. Over 24 languages are spoken at this area.
Chitwan is one of the few remaining undisturbed vestiges of the Terai region, which formerly extended over the foothills of Nepal.

Origin

There are several theories on the origin of the name Chitwan. Some of the most satisfactory theories on the origin of its name are:
Chitwan was originally a dense forest ruled by Chitrsen Baba, where different RishiMunis came to meditate with numbers of wild animals like leopards and Bengal tigers during ancient times..

Agriculture and industry

The people inhabiting the Chitwan District are predominantly peasant farmers cultivating mainly food and cash crops such as rice, maize, wheat, beans, lentils, mustard and Vegetables. The district is the major maize-producing area in Nepal, with an area under maize cultivation of in the year 2003–04. Maize is cultivated on irrigated /seasonal irrigated land in winter and spring, and on rain fed land in summer. Due to an easy road access, maize produced can be easily distributed to other parts of the country. The poultry industry in the district constitutes a significant proportion of the country's poultry industry.
Chitwan is famous in Nepal for mustard growing and production of mustard oil. This popularity of the mustard in Chitwan is attributed to the predominant soil type silt, resulting from the flooding of the Narayani River and tributaries. Chitwan is also profusely spotted with clay lands, which are very good for growing rice, wheat and vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, radish, potato, broccoli, cucumbers, pumpkins, and carrot. Chitwan is also famous for floriculture, mushroom cultivation and bee keeping. Terai is the kitchen of Nepal. Chitwan is also famous for sweet potato and cauliflower production.
At present Bharatpur's largest business area, Narayangadh, is less accessible due to the movement of the main bus terminal due to the previous king's son's anger with the politics of the citizens of the city. This bus terminal is however no longer in use following a successful people's movement in 2006. It is believed that Nepali leftist revolutionary leader Prachanda spent his childhood and youth in Chitwan. Chitwan is adapting the New Community Movement South Korean model of development. One of the biggest rice mills, Agam Food Industry, is situated in Bharatpur-13, Chitwan. This industry process rice into various forms also employing many local people. Chitwan is very fresh and good place to live in.

Cuisine

Chitwan is very popular for tasty Taas, a spicy fried goat meat dish served with bhuja or cheura available in many restaurants. Momo, sukuti Khaja Set and other Newari cuisine and Tharu food and Bhuteko Bhat is also popular. Dal bhat is the staple food of the area, meat and dairy products are also widely consumed. For centuries, traditional fermented foods and beverages have constituted about 20% of the local diet. Depending on altitudinal variation, finger millet, wheat, buckwheat, barley, vegetable, rice, potato, and soybeans etc. are grown. Thakali Khana set is the best dinner in Chitwan which is mostly found in famous places like Sauraha, Tandi, Naryangadh, and Lilachowk.

Places of interest

Chitwan has particularly rich flora and fauna. Nepal's first national park, the Chitwan National Park together with the adjacent Parsa National Park support a species diversity much higher than any other on the Indian subcontinent. Rare species include Bengal tiger, gharial, rhino, leopards, mugger crocodile, Indian rock python and several species of deer. The protected areas are guarded by a battalion of the Nepal Army and patrolled by anti-poaching units.
The Rapti River flows east to south west in the south of Bharatpur and forms the northern border of the Chitwan National Park. The Narayani River flows north to south in the west of Bharatpur. It is the deepest and also one of the biggest rivers of Nepal. The Narayani Bridge over the river connects Chitwan District with Nawalparasi District of Nepal. Small island, like Nagarban in Narayani river are popular picnic spot.
Bishazari Tal Lake is close by Chitwan National Park, about south of Bharatpur. The lake serves as an important bird watching centre and is attractive for bird lovers. It also harbours crocodiles.
Ayodhyapuri,situated in Southern Chitwan,is known for the birthplace of hindu lord Ram.The Department of Archeology of Nepal has started the archeological study to trace out the evidence in support of Ayodhyapuri's claim to be Ram Janmabhoomi.
Das Dhunga is a famous place in Chitwan. The people's leader Madan Bhandari was killed there in an accident.
Narayangarh is the main shopping area of Bharatpur city, and the main transit point for all the vehicles travelling via the east–west Mahendra Highway, also for the people travelling from Kathmandu, Gorkha, and Pokhara through Mugling. Recently, Narayangarh has become a retail and commercial capital of Chitwan District and Bharatpur Municipality. It is also the center for hospitality industry which includes hotels, lodges, restaurants and transportation hub for the district.
Upardangadhi, one of the historical basement, is also located here in saktikhor which is made by the grandson of well-known king of Nepal Prithivi Narayan Shaha, Bir Bikram Shaha.

Transportation and communication

in the central part of the city offered four domestic airlines and one government airline with seven to 11 flights daily to Kathmandu. Mahendra East West Highway connects the city to various parts of the country, and another highway connects Bharatpur with Kathmandu to the north east and with Birgunj on the border of India to the south. Bus, micro bus and other land transportation are available to go out of the city, for internal transportation taxi, rickshaw and car/jeep hiring is available. Hakim Chowk and Chaubiskothi, Shaheed Chok, Pul Chowk, Bel Chowk and Lila Chowk are major centres at intersections of major roads. There are four major local FM radio stations broadcast in Bharatpur, such as Synergy FM, Hamro FM, Radio Triveni, Radio Madi, Radio Chitwan, Radio Kotagiri, Chitwan Online FM, Kalika Music FM, Kalika FM. and Narayani FM. The city also has Beso Channel, "Aviyan Channel", Unique Television and Avass Television.
Land line telephone services and mobile telephone services are available to the majority of areas. There are multiple private Internet service providers. Major cities in chitwan are flourished with fibre connectivity and 4G internet.

Fort, palace and landmark buildings

Major places

At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, Chitwan District had a population of 579,984. Of these, 70.1% spoke Nepali, 10.2% Tharu, 4.9% Tamang, 3.7% Chepang, 2.8% Gurung, 1.7% Bhojpuri, 1.6% Magar, 1.6% Newari, 1.1% Darai, 0.6% Maithili and 0.5% Hindi as their first language.
Of the population, 27.3% in the district spoke Nepali as their second language.

Administration

The district consists of seven municipalities, out of which one is a metropolitan city, five are urban municipalities and one is a rural municipality. These are as follows:
Prior to the restructuring of the district, Chitwan had following gaunpalikas and municipalities.
Chitwan district is also known as the medical city of Nepal. There are many top rated medical institutions in the district, although most of them are situated in and around Bharatpur Municipality. People from all over Nepal and also from North India come here for treatment. The district is especially famous for the cancer hospital at Krishnapur named after B. P. Koirala. After Kathmandu, Biratnagar and Pokhara, it is the most medically sophisticated district of Nepal. Hospitals in the district:
Other important hospitals and nursing homes are Asha Hospital, Manakamana Hospital, Janasewa Hospital, Chitwan Hospital, Bharatpur Community hospital, Om Hospital, Lok Sewa Pharmacy, and Shanti hospital, Sanjivani Ayurveda & Nature Cure Hospital, and Bharatpr-10.

Educational institutions