Surunga is a trade center of
Jhapa District
Jhapa ( ne, झापा जिल्ला; ) is a district of Province No. 1 in eastern Nepal named after a Rajbanshi word "Jhapa" meaning "to cover" (verb). The latest official data, the 2021 Nepal Census, puts the total population of the ...
. It is located in
Kankai Municipality in Jhapa District in the
Province No. 1
Province No. 1 (proposed names: Kirat Autonomous State, Kirat, Limbuwan, Khambuwan Rashtriya Morcha, Nepal, Khambuwan, Mount Everest, Sagarmatha, Virata, Birat and Koshi River, Koshi) is the easternmost of the seven Provinces of Nepal, province ...
of south-eastern
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
. 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
The Kankai River ( ne, कन्काई नदी, also referred to as Kankai Mai or Mai Khola) is a trans-boundary river flowing through the hills of Ilam and the plains of the Jhapa District in Nepal. A holy river for many Hindus liv ...
(also known as Kankai Mai by the locals).
Geography
It is bordered by
Ilam district
Ilam district ( ne, इलाम जिल्ला) is one of 14 districts of Province No. 1 of eastern Nepal. It is a Hill district and covers . The 2011 census counted 290,254 population. The municipality of Ilam is the district headquar ...
on the north mostly while it also shares a border with
Khudnabari VDC, Kankai river flows to its west (on the western bank of which lie
Shivasatakshi), to the east lies
Ghailadubba and
Arjundhara
Arjundhara is the name of a temple that is situated in south-eastern part of Nepal. It is situated in Jhapa district, Province No. 1 in Nepal. It is 45 minutes on flight from Kathmandu to Bhadrapur and 30 minutes car ride from Bhadrapur to Arjund ...
VDCs and at 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.
Surunga was named after its historical meaning: Surung (Tunnel). It is believed that five brothers from Hindu mythology mahabharat along with their mother kunti escaped from the palace and finally reached Surunga underground.
Population
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
Bahun ( ne, बाहुन) or Khas Brahmin ( ne, खस ब्राह्मण) is a caste ( ''Varna'') among Khas people of Nepal. Their origins are from the Indo-Aryan Khasa tribe of Nepal and South Asia. According to the 2011 Nepa ...
,
Chhetri
Chhetri (Kshetri, Kshettri, Kshetry or Chhettri), ( ne, क्षेत्री ; IAST: ''Kṣetrī'') historically called Kshettriya or Kshetriya or Khas are Nepali speakers of Khas community, some of whom trace their origin to migration fro ...
,
Satar
Za'atar ( ; ar, زَعْتَر, ) is a culinary herb or family of herbs. It is also the name of a spice mixture that includes the herb along with toasted sesame seeds, dried sumac, often salt, as well as other spices. As a family of related ...
,
Kami
are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...
,
Damai
Damai ( ne, दमाइँ) is an occupational caste found among Khas people. They comprise 45 subgroups. Their surnames take after the subgroup they belong to. People belonging to this caste are traditionally tailors and musicians. They are ade ...
,
Newar,
Bhujel
Bhujel or Gharti is a caste group in Nepal.
The inhabitants living near the Bhuji Khola river called Bhujel. Bhujel are divided into four subcaste – Bhujyal, Gharti, Nisel and Khawas. Most of the Bhujel of Nepal speaks Nepali language but some ...
,
Tamang
The Tamang (; Devanagari: तामाङ; ''tāmāṅ'') are an Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group of Nepal. In Nepal Tamang/Moormi people constitute 5.6% of the Nepalese population at over 1.3 million in 2001, increasing to 1,539,830 as of the 2011 c ...
,
Agrawal,
Rajbanshi,
Dhimal
The Dhimal or Dhemal(in Nepali:धिमाल) are an Kirati ethnic group residing in the eastern Terai of Nepal. They are a Sino-Tibetan-speaking ethnic group of the eastern Terai. They mainly reside in Morang and Jhapa districts of Nepal a ...
,
Sarki,
Magar,
Rai
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
and
Limbu among others. Out of all the ethnicities, Satar and Rajbanshi are underprivileged in Surunga.
Education
In Surunga is located the government-run Kankai Madhyamik Vidyalaya, which caters for around 3,000 students every year not only from Surunga but also from surrounded villages. The boarding schools are Shree Pashupati English Secondary School, Shree Harikul Model Higher Secondary School, Paragon Academy Secondary School, Champa Flowers Academy, Jhapa Marigold English School, Mai valley English School, Dibya Ratna English Secondary School, Shree Banubajha English school (Surunga 7), Janaki primary school (Surunga 8), Devkota Education Foundation and Hamro Pathashala.
There are other primary boarding schools in Surunga. For higher education, Kankai Multiple Campus is running courses for certificate, bachelors and masters levels. Shree Harikul Model Higher Secondary School also runs higher secondary education also known as 10+2.
Kankai Higher Secondary School is the pioneer school in Surunga. It also runs classes in symbolic language up to grade 10 for hearing-impaired students.
Economy
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 10 million for one
Katha in main points of Surunga. It contains a group of A-graded banks certified by
Nepal Rastra Bank
The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) ( ne, नेपाल राष्ट्र बैंक) was established April 26, 1956 A.D. ( Nepali Date: Baisakh 14, 2013 B.S.) under the Nepal Rastra Bank Act, 1955, to discharge the central banking responsibili ...
(NRB) which includes NRB, BiratLaxmi Development Bank, Excel Development Bank, Sunrise Bank,
NMC Jhapa, Prithivi Saving and Credit Society. 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 400 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 filming and photography can be done there paying a little charge in KotiHom Dharmik Sthal Bikash Samiti (a committee which manages the Koti Hom area).
No bandas
Surunga is one of the best place for business opportunities because of its anti-strike stance. It is one of the most important educational and business centers in the region. No political parties, ethnic groups or professional organization has been able to shut down Surunga bazaar over the last few years. Defying all manner of bandas, Surunga has earned a reputation as the country's only anti-banda town. The locals say Surunga bazaar has not been closed down even for a single day in the last six years. According to District Traffic Police Office Jhapa, the district has seen shutdowns for 31 days in the last two years. But, no banda has had any impact in Surunga. In the past, the locals of Surunga have even chased away political party cadres trying to shut down the bazaar by force. Due to this reason trade is easy in Surunga.
Religious and touristic sites
Surunga is famous for
Kotihome religious site 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 thousands of people from as far as
Biratnagar
Biratnagar () is a metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Province No. 1. With a population of 242,548 as per the 2011 census, it is the largest city in the province and also the headquarters of Morang district. As per the p ...
,
Dharan
Dharan ( ne, धरान) a sub-metropolitan city in Sunsari District of Province No. 1, Nepal, which was established as a fourth municipality in the Kingdom in 1958. It is the third most populous city in Eastern Nepal after Biratnagar and It ...
,
Itahari
Itahari ( ne, ईटहरी) is a Municipalities in Province No. 1, sub-metropolitan city in the Sunsari District of Province No. 1 of Nepal. Itahari city is business hub of eastern Nepal. It is the List of cities of Nepal, second most populous ...
,
Ilam,
Kakarvitta
Kakarbhitta (often written and pronounced Kakadbhitta or Kakarvitta) is a neighbourhood in Mechinagar Municipality in Jhapa District of Province No. 1, southeastern Nepal.
Demographics
At the time of the 1991 Nepal census, Mechinagar had a popul ...
and Indian states of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
(mostly
Darjeeling
Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, ...
and
Jalpaiguri
Jalpaiguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Jalpaiguri district as well as of the Jalpaiguri division of West Bengal, covering the jurisdiction of the five districts of North Bengal. The city is loca ...
), southern
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
and
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
.
Domukha is a tourist destination in the eastern part of Nepal. Kankai river flows through the Chure range of hills, comes and reaches the plains of
Terai
The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterised by tall grasslands, scr ...
region. Because of the Domukha Dam that was constructed to build Kankai Nahar (channel), 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. Domukha 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.
These days another religious place has become visited, Dhanushkoti Dham, which is supposed to be place of "Arjun's meditation in The
Mahabharat
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuru ...
". Its growing to be one of the most important religious sites and picnic place nowadays. A more fascinating fact about it is that this lies just the opposite bank of Damukha.
Kankai Bridge: The bridge over the Kankai river is one of the long 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
The Sharda River, also called Kali River and Mahakali River, originates at Kalapani in the Himalayas at an elevation of in the Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand, India. It flows along Nepal's western border with India and has a basin area ...
connecting rest of Nepal to the 2 Nepali villages beyond
Mahakali
Mahakali () is the Hindu goddess of time and death in the goddess-centric tradition of Shaktism.
Similar to Kali, Mahakali is a fierce goddess associated with universal power, time, life, death, and both rebirth and liberation. She is the cons ...
called
Chandani and
Dodhara
Dodhara is a village development committee in Kanchanpur District in the Sudurpashchim Province of south-western Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census
The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national census conducted by the Nepal Central ...
villages.
Jamunkadhi Simsar, where many animals like deer, pythons, bears,
sambar deer and porcupine are protected, is also located in this VDC.
A park named Happy Land has been established recently and is gaining popularity among the local tourists. The park is located on the bank of Sankha Khola, approximately 1 km north from the town.
Health services
Surunga has a government-run primary health care center that is staffed by a medical doctor, health assistant, AHW, nurses and other helpers. The PHC also has vaccination center for snake bite which is a highly prevalent condition in the region especially from the
Cobra and
Krait
''Bungarus'' is a genus of venomous elapid snakes, the kraits ("krait" is pronounced , rhyming with "kite"), found in South and Southeast Asia. The genus ''Bungarus'' has 16 species.
Distribution
Kraits are found in tropical Asia, from near Ira ...
. Besides, there are a lot of pharmacy stores like Sitaula 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 who rotate on hourly basis. Recently, Marigold Hospital and Sidhakali Hospital have been set up to cater to the growing health needs of the people. 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 have to either go to
Damak
Damak (Nepali: दमक), a city in eastern Nepal is one of the oldest municipalities in Jhapa District in Province No. 1 of Nepal. It is situated between the Ratuwa River in the east and the Maawa River in the west. It has Sivalik Hills in it ...
, a bigger city in western Jhapa that has AMDA clinic or to
Dharan
Dharan ( ne, धरान) a sub-metropolitan city in Sunsari District of Province No. 1, Nepal, which was established as a fourth municipality in the Kingdom in 1958. It is the third most populous city in Eastern Nepal after Biratnagar and It ...
BPKIHS where the largest medical institution of Eastern Nepal is situated. Some of the people also travel as far as
Siliguri
Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian state of West Bengal. Known as the ' ...
, second largest city in
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
state of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
for better treatment. People also travel to
Kathmandu
, pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
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. The drinking water project covers most parts of the VDC. It is also ranked one of the best drinking water service in the Eastern Region of Nepal. Prior to this, people used to drink
tube well
A tube well is a type of water well in which a long, -wide, stainless steel tube or pipe is bored underground. The lower end is fitted with a strainer, and a pump lifts water for irrigation. The required depth of the well depends on the dep ...
water which wasn't treated before drinking and contained a lot harmful minerals for health including
arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...
that is linked with cancers and other skin conditions.
Media
To promote local culture, Surunga has an FM radio station named Radio Sandesh - 103.9 MHz, which is run by a public library (Kankai pustakalaya) and is also registered as a
Community radio
Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popula ...
.
Organizations
Amongst many: Surunga Cooperate Youth Club, Sahkarya Sarthi Samuha, Surunga Jaycees, Sahakarya girls group, Sahakarya child Group, Youth Forum Surunga, Gayan Joti Yuwa club and Bal Club.
References
{{Jhapa District
External links
* https://nepalensis.com/kotihome-jhapa-nepal/
* https://medium.com/@omkrishnauprety/famous-place-in-jhapa-nepal-fb3784eca3d4
Populated places in Jhapa District