| Pyuthan Khalanga | |
|---|---|
| — Municipality — | |
  Pyuthan Khalanga
|
|
| Coordinates: 28°06′N 82°52′E / 28.1°N 82.867°E | |
| Country |  Nepal |
| Zone | Rapti Zone |
| District | Pyuthan District |
| Population (1991) | |
| - Total | 5,061 |
| Time zone | Nepal Time (UTC+5:45) |
28°05′15″N 082°53′00″E / 28.0875°N 82.8833333°E
Pyuthan Khalanga or Pyuthan is a bazaar town and administrative center of Pyuthan District in the Rapti Zone of central south-western Nepal, approximately 300 kilometres west of the capital of Kathmandu. The town is locally known as Khalanga for its history as a military strongpoint. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 5,061 persons residing in 1,066 households.[1]
The town is situated on a mountainside about 500 meters above the intensively cultivated floodplain of Jhimruk Khola about 15 kilometers north of the Mahabharat Range in the Middle Hills. Besides expansive views of Jhimruk valley there are limited views of a few peaks in the western part of the Dhaulagiri range off to the north. The town is populated by government officials, by solders and police of Magar and other "hill tribes" and their mostly Chhetri officers by Newar merchants, by civil servants recruited mostly from local Bahun and Chhetri castes, as well as menial castes who labor as tailors, cobblers, blacksmiths and construction workers.
Before King Gyanendra was removed from office in 2008, this district center was virtually a royalist island in a republican sea. Pyuthan district was the home base of Mohan Bikram Singh who was a charter member of the Communist Party of Nepal. Singh did extensive organizational work in his home district and other parts of Rapti Zone, resulting in local opposition to the Shah dynasty that largely ran the country. Although M. B. Singh was marginalized in leftist politics before the Nepalese Civil War broke out in 1996, his organizational work helped make Rapti Zone the "heartland" of the insurgency and left the district center vulnerable and isolated for the duration.
Pyuthan Khalanga has scheduled bus service via the east-west Mahendra Highway and a spur road along the (West) Rapti River.
References
- ^ "Nepal Census 2001". Nepal's Village Development Committees. Digital Himalaya. http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/collections/nepalcensus/form.php?selection=1. Retrieved September 21 2008.
External links
Coordinates: 28°06′N 82°52′E / 28.1°N 82.867°E
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