Birendranagar

Birendranagar is a city in Surkhet District in Karnali Province of Nepal, the capital of the province and the district headquarters of Surkhet. As of March 2022 it had a population of 154,886, which made it the 17th most populous city in the country and the largest in Karnali Province. It lies in the Surkhet Valley on the northern bank of the Bheri River, surrounded by hills, with views of the Mahabharat and Chure ranges and the inner Terai plain. The city is named in honour of King Birendra, who planned and established it as the first planned town in Nepal. It sits on two national highways, the Ratna Highway and the Karnali Highway, and is one of the constituent cities of the Ratna Highway Metropolitan Areas together with Nepalgunj and Kohalpur. A major trade centre of mid-western Nepal, it draws migrants from the surrounding mountain districts and became the provincial capital in February 2018.