| Surunga | |
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| — Village development committee — | |
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Surunga
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Nepal |
| Zone | Mechi Zone |
| District | Jhapa District |
| Population (1991) | |
| • Total | 16,747 |
| Time zone | Nepal Time (UTC+5:45) |
Surunga is a village development committee in Jhapa District in the Mechi Zone of south-eastern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 16,747 people living in 2996 individual households. Surunga is one of the rapidly developing towns of Jhapa district. It is situated on the bank of the Kankai River (also known as Kankai mai by the locals).
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It is bordered by Ilam district on the north mostly while it also shares a border with [Khudunabari] VDC, Kankai river flows on its west (on the western bank of which lie Satashi Dham and Shivganj), on the east lie Ghailadubba and Arjundhara VDCs and on the south it is surrounded by Sharnamati and Dangibari VDCs. Being one of the few villages in Jhapa through which East-west Highway runs, also makes the village one of the most important towns in the region. It has significant religious importance due to its being on the bank of Kankai river where the famous Koti Hom Religious Area is situated.
Estimated population in 2001 census was around 17,000 but currently this could be around 35,000 with a large influx of people from different villages of Eastern hills and various parts of India. Ethnicities in Surunga are Bahun, Chhetri, Satar, Kami, Damai,Newar, Tamang, Agrawal, Rajbanshi, Dhimal, Sarki, Magar, Rai and Limbu among others. Out of all the ethnicities, Satar and Rajbanshi are underprivileged in Surunga.
In education, Surunga is lauded due to its government-run Kankai Madhyamik Vidyalaya which caters for around 3,000 students every year not only from Surunga but also from surrounded villages and boarding schools, which are plenty in Surunga. The boarding schools are Shree Pashupati English Boarding School,Shree Harikul namuna higher secondary School,Paragon Boarding School,champa flowers acedamy.
There are other primary boarding schools in Surunga. For higher education, Kankai Multiple Campus is running courses for certificate, bachelors and masters levels. Harikul Boarding School also runs higher secondary education also known as 10+2.
Surunga's main economy rests on agriculture. However, now remittance, local businesses and tourism also contribute significant amount to the economy of Surunga village. In recent times, real estate business is also a vital means of economic activities. The cost of land is increasing each day making about 5 million for one Kattha in main points of Surunga. It contains a group of A graded banks certified by Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB) which includes NRB, BiratLaxmi Bank, Excel Bank etc. And simultaneously a group of 'saving and credit' companies are also working handsomely. Leading among them is Bhagwati Saving and Credit Pvt Limited which has more than 200 share members.
Koti Hom (a hom ritual in Hindu religion) was conducted by Late Yogi Naraharinath, a Hindu yogi and philosopher, in 1985. Now Koti Hom is going to be developed as a tourist place. Movie shooting and photo-shooting can be done there paying a little charge in KotiHom Dharmik Sthal Bikash Samiti (a committee which manages the Koti Hom area). It is one of the most important educational and business centers in the region.
Surunga is famous for Kotihome Religious Region that lies on the westernmost point of the VDC. Every year hundreds of thousands of devotees flock to this area to worship. The most remarkable occasion is Makar Sankranti when maghe mela is organized which is attended by hundreds of thousand people from as far as Biratnagar, Dharan, Itahari, Ilam, Kakarvitta and Indian states of west Bengal (mostly Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri), southern Bhutan and Assam.
Daumukha is a tourist destination of eastern part of Nepal. With Kankai river flowing through the chure range of hills, comes reaches the plains of Terai region. Because of the Daumukha Dam that was constructed to build Kankai Nahar (canal), there's a huge reservoir of water which is serene and clear most of the year. Many youngsters visit this place for picnic, field visit, excursions and simply to cool off from the scorching heat. Daumukha is also a connecting point to Surunga for people living in high hills and southern Ilam. According to mythology, around this area used to be the palace of Kirant King in the history.
Kankai Bridge: The bridge over the Kankai river is the longest concrete bridge in the country and measures 703 meters. The longest barrage/dam is on Koshi river and the longest bailey bridge is on Mahakali river connecting rest of Nepal to the 2 Nepali villages beyond Mahakali called Chandani and Dodhara villages.
Surunga has a government-run primary health care center that is staffed by a medical doctor, health assistant, AHW, Nurses and peons. The PHC also has vaccination center for Snake bite which is highly prevalent condition in the region especially by Cobra and Karet. Besides, there are a lot of pharmacy stores Sitaula Pharmacy, Rai Pharmacy, Pradhan Medical, Asmita Medical etc. that mostly sell medicines to the people and also provide consultation related to medical conditions with the help of medical doctors which rotate on hourly basis. However, there is no medical institution in Surunga that can provide inpatient services to the people. When they have major health problems, the citizens of Surunga run either to Damak, a bigger city in western Jhapa that has AMDA clinic or to Dharan BPKIHS where the largest medical institution of Eastern Nepal is situated. Some of the people also travel as far as Siliguri, second largest city in West Bengal state of India for better treatment. People also travel to Kathmandu for treatment.
Drinking water: Surunga has drinking water supply that is collected from underground water and treated before distributed to the taps in every house. This was constructed by the initiative of Local people and support from the district development committee. Prior to this, people used to drink water from tube-well that was not treated before drinking and contained a lot harmful minerals for health including Arsenic that is linked with cancers and other skin conditions. [1]
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