Itahari

Itahari
इटहरी
Eastern Heart
Sub-Metropolitan City

Beautiful view of Itahari
Motto: Green, Peace, Green City Itahari, Pollution free City Of Nepal
Itahari

Location in Nepal

Coordinates: 26°40′N 87°27′E / 26.667°N 87.450°E / 26.667; 87.450Coordinates: 26°40′N 87°27′E / 26.667°N 87.450°E / 26.667; 87.450
Country    Nepal
Zone Koshi Zone
District Sunsari District
Government
 • Type Sub-metropolitan City
 • Mayor Dwarik Lal Chaudhary
Area
 • Total 87.3301 km2 (33.7183 sq mi)
Population (2011)
 • Total 140,801
 • Ethnicities Tharu, Brahmin, Chhetri, Limbu, Rai, Gurung
 • Religions Hinduism, Buddhist
Demonym(s) Itaharian
Time zone Nepal Time (UTC+5:45)
Postal Code 56705
Area code(s) 025
Website http://itaharimun.gov.np
Itahari
Itahari also known as "Eastern Heart"
Itahari
Historical Photo of Itahari.

Itahari (Nepali: इटहरी ) is a sub-metropolitan and second-largest city in Sunsari District in the Koshi Zone of south-eastern Nepal. [1] [2] The Tharu community is the oldest community of Itahari. Itahari is located at the main transportation junction of eastern Nepal. It is the center of the west-east Mahendra Highway and south-north Koshi Highway and thus is a town of emerging importance. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census it had a population of 140801 people living in 18,270 individual households.[3]

Mayor: Dwarik Lal Chaudhary
Mayor : Dwarik Lal Chaudhary
Itahari Sub-Metropolitan city office.
Itahari Sub-Metropolitan city office.

[4]

History

There are many arguments about the naming of Itahari. Some argue that the name was derived from the Tharu word: Itahar meaning bricks because the people had found ancient Multani coins and bricks . The current town of Itahari was the Mauja of old Rana family of Nepal and it once belonged to General Subarna Samser Rana. The Tharu community is the oldest community of Itahari.The city has no clear date of foundation. A small Tharu settlement near present day Manakamana Mandir existed as Itahari since ages. Tharu people have played important role in the development of this city. Previous Tharu land owners had more than 500 Bighas of Land. Some Tharu land owners like Tek Narayan Chaudhary and Dhanusdhari Chaudhary donated Land for construction of Itahari Sub-Metropolitan office today where it exists. Many other Tharu land owners donated lands, ponds, etc for the development of Itahari city. After the construction of Malaya Road, now Dharan-Biratnagar Highway(Bhakti Rajmarga) and East-West Highway. Later, The geographical location attracted people from other parts of the country and the settlement grew larger. In 1996, Itahari was promoted to Municipality and in 2015 it was promoted into the capacity of Sub-Metropolitan City[5]. Maheshwar Subba was the founder of Bauka area of settlement.[6]

Geography

Mechi kali pokhari inside Itahari Sub-Metropolitan city office area donated by Tek Narayan Chaudhary.
Taal Talaiya Itahari.
Taal Talaiya, located at a distance of 700 meters east from Itahari Chowk, is a famous tourist destination in Itahari.
Buddhi-Ganga Jamuna Mukti Ghat.
Buddhi-Ganga Jamuna Mukti Ghat. An area of cultural significance with a lot of tourists visiting it.
View of Itahari towards Dharan in northern side
Ocean water park itahari.
Ocean water park itahari.

Located in the Eastern Region of Nepal, the town and metropolitan area of Itahari is developing rapidly. One of the reasons for the rapid expansion of Itahari is the fact that it lies on both the south-north, from hill to tarai, Koshi Lokmarga (highway) and Mahendra Lokmarga (highway) has been crossed Itahari city from wet to east. Hence, Itahari is known as an important transportation junction of Eastern Nepal. Itahari is located in the fertile Tarai region. There are two small rivers, Sunsari khola (river) and Tengra khola (river) flow from the mid-part of Itahri, Budikhola, lies in east part, is the larger in size with comparison to Sunsari and Tengra Khola that flows from the east-border side of Itahari which separates Sunsari and Morang district. It is in plain area and there is a dense forest range, known as Charkose Jhadi of Nepal in the north of the city.

Transport

Mahendra Highway in Itahari

Market

Small Vegetables market in Itahari

Various Departmental stores and shops are established in Itahari. Gorkha Department Store is the largest of all department stores. Bhu.Pu. Gorkha Department Store, Sunrise Department Store are other most popular stores. Sunday and Wednesday are the hatiya (market) days. Vegetables, clothes, food items, dresses and other daily necessities are sold in these marketplaces. At Pachrukhi, Friday are hatiya days. At Janta Basti the hatiya day is Saturday and Tuesday. Pakali, Tarahara and Khanar are other large marketplaces.

Media

Itahari is the television hub of the Eastern Region. Arena Television is most popular local television. [7] Some daily national magazines are Jana Bidhroha, Aauser, Pubeli Hotlines, Ganarajya Daily and Blast Times Dainik. Most popular weekly are Shri Janamat and Sampada Aachal. Artha Beat and Purbelinews are most widely circulated monthly newsmagazines. Many FM Stations produce or broadcast their news and entertainment programmes. Saptakoshi FM is probably most popular and most widely listened FM radio of Eastern Development Region[8] Other FM radios like Itahari FM, Radio Pariwartan & Namaste FM are popular. Purbelinews.com, Newslaya.com, news.wikinepal.info, itaharionline.com, .kchhakhabar.com are Popular Online News Media from Itahari.[9]

Education

Sushma Godawari College
Godawari Vidhya Mandir


There were very few private schools until the early 1990s. Many more private schools and colleges have opened since. Itahari also houses a culture centre and library which was built with the help of the Government of Luxembourg and is currently being managed by Itahari sub-metropolitan city.

Schools [10]

Colleges:

Other than listed above, there are Tarahara Krishi Anusandhan Kendra, a center for agricultural investigation, Jute Development Project and Silk Development project in this city.

Literature

Itahari has developed itself as a new literary center. Major literary, art and music organizations are:

Some of the leading and most important poets, novelists, essayists and artists are listed below:

[17]

Parks/Recreation Centers

Itahari has some parks, picnic spots and recreation centers, too. Some of them are:

[18]

Sports

Various local and regional level sports contest are held in Itahari every year. The regional sports stadium 'Purbanchal Stadium' is under construction. Rashtriya Jagriti Club (Raja Club) is a leading club. There are many fitness and Zym centers in Itahari. Football, Cricket, Volleyball, Basketball, Table tennis and Chess are most popular games.

Security

Itahari is one of the safest places in Nepal for residential, commercial or industrial choice. The largest military camp in the region, the Purbi Pritana Headquarters of Nepal Army is here. The Riot Police have their Purbanchal headquarters in this city. The same way Anchal Traffic Police Office, Elaka Police Post, too are in the heart of the city. Many police booths and stations give a strong security to the city.

Senior citizens are given special care in the Municipality premises. There is a Home for disowned and helpless senior citizens in Pakli.

Religion and Culture

Itahari is a Hindu majority city as all major towns and cities of the country. The temples where most religious, social and cultural activities are seen are:

Itahari has hundreds of other temples in the city and in the outskirts. Almost all the neighbourhood have their own temples. Here are some churches and mosques, too. Sikh, Jain, Muslim and Christian population in itahari is amall, but they practice their faiths freely and with dignity.

Important Personalities

References

  1. ↑ "६१ वटा नगरपालिका र ७ वटा उपमहानगरपालिका थप (सूचीसहित)".
  2. ↑ "६१ नगरपालिका र ७ उपमहानगरपालिका घोषणा (नाम र गाभिएका गाविससहित".
  3. ↑ "Nepal Census 2001". Nepal's Village Development Committees. Digital Himalaya. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  4. ↑ "Itahari Sub-Metropolitan city".
  5. ↑ Lamsal, Krishnabinod (2015-10-09) [1998]. "Mr". Itahari. 1 (1): 23.
  6. ↑ http://helloitahari.com/news/264
  7. ↑ List of Nepali television stations
  8. ↑ "Saptakoshi-fm".
  9. ↑ "Newslaya".
  10. ↑ List of schools in Nepal
  11. ↑ Godawari Vidhya Mandir
  12. ↑ Website
  13. ↑ http://www.sushmagodawari.edu.np
  14. ↑ Sushma Godawari College
  15. ↑ http://koshistjames.edu.np/
  16. ↑ http://www.vac.edu.np
  17. ↑ Sahityik Kosedhunga. ed. Dinesh Poudel. Vol. 11, No. 11. 2011
  18. ↑ http://www.myrepublica.com/news/21062/
  19. ↑ http://itaharimun.gov.np/en/content/dwarik-lal-chaudhary
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