Damak Municipality

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 its north and ends with the intersection of Ratuwa River and Maawa River in the south. Mahendra Highway (longest highway of Nepal) crosses this municipality nearly bisecting it. It is the largest city in Jhapa District as well as in Mechi zone with a population of 75,743 in 2011 A.D[1]

Damak City दमक सहर
Municipality
Nickname(s):  DMK City
Motto(s):  "Green City, Prosperous Damak" "हरित नगर समृद दमक"
Damak City Location in Province No. 1 Damak City Damak City (Nepal)
Coordinates: 26.63°N 87.70°E
Country	Nepal
Development Region	Eastern
Province	Province No. 1
Zone	Mechi Zone
District	Jhapa District
Government
• Mayor	Mr. Romnath Oli (NCP)
• Deputy Mayor	Mrs. Gita Adhikari (NCP)
Area
• Total	75.74 km^2 (29.24 sq mi)
Elevation	71 m (233 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	75,743
• Density	1,000/km^2 (2,600/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+5:45 (NST)
Postal code	57217
Area code(s)	023
Website	damakmun.gov.np

Demography

The ethnicity and caste pattern of the municipality shows diversity with major ethnic groups as Brahmin (33.09 percent), Chhetri (23.62 percent), Dhimal (6.53 percent), Limbu (6.5 percent), Newar (6.14 percent) and Rai (5.77 percent). Besides these ethnic groups other various ethnic groups comprise small proportions of the population such as Kaami (2.88 percent), Tamang (2.51 percent) Damai/Dholi (2.35 percent). The remaining other ethnic and caste groups like Teli, Gharti/Bhujel, Magar, Sarki, Gurung, Muslim, etc. comprises about 10 percent of the total population.

Damak is one of the oldest city from the whole district and it was the safest place during the Maoist insurgency.

Landscape Information

Damak was changed to a municipality from a VDC (Village Development Committee) in 1981 AD. The Damak municipality consists of 10 wards, with previous 19 wards rearranged and some wards merged. Damak also includes the large Himalayan tea estate (हिमालय गूडरिक) where the Ex-Royal Family has also invested and palace was also built for ex King and Queen. The municipality covers an area of 7,513 hectares and is at an average of 100 meters above sea level. Lakhanpur is to the east, Urlabari, Rajghat and Madhumalla is in the west and Chulachuli (Ilam) and Kohabhara VDC in the north and the south, respectively.

According to the census of 2011, Damak had 7,178 households containing about 36,000 people. The total area is 7,513 hectares out of which 1406.7 hectares is covered by residential area whereas 5,586.30 hectares is used for agriculture. The market area consists of 400.00 hectares, 215 hectares as forest plant area and 265.00 hectares is used in other purposes.

It is the biggest city in Mechi zone. Pashuhat, located in Damak-7, is known as the biggest cattle market in the eastern Nepal.

Health and services

In 056/057 there was 1 Health post, 1 Hospital (AMDA) and 1 Nursing Home (Life Line) which contains 100 beds in total but now including AMDA and life line: there are 7 hospital they are AMDA-Nepal, Advance Health Care Centre, life line, om mechi, Q&Q hospital, Namaste Public Hospital, Janta National Hospital, damak hospital & research center. The Population Growth Rate is 5.14 per annum as per 2047/48 census. As per 056/057 census, there were about 88 industries, 1011 shops, 244 hotels and 9 financial institutions. Black topped road were 29 km, graveled roads were 150 km and earthen road were 500 km. In addition to it, the drainage runs 3.5  km through the main highway. There are 512 street lights and above 4000 telephone lines to the public. Three Bhutanese Refugees camps (Beldangi 1, 2, and 3) were also settled in Damak in 1992. Victoria Cross Medal winner Rambahadur Limbu currently lives in Damak.

It is one of the important trade centers in the eastern part of Nepal. There are many international organizations such as IOM, UNHCR, OXFAM, LWF, NRCS, AMDA, CARITAS NEPAL, etc. who are working for the refugees here in Damak.

Education

According to 2001 Nepal census, literacy rate of the city is 88%.[2]

School Data

• Primary – 1038
• Lower Secondary – 700
• Secondary – 1408
• Technical School Under CTEVT – 490
• Higher Secondary – 1500
• Affiliated Campus – 9

Communication and Entertainment

Nepal Telecom Damak Branch serves as the center for Telecommunication and Cellular with two huge Skyline Towers. Whereas Axiatas's Ncell is also popular in the city having 82 small and One huge tower installed for the fastest connectivity. There are 3 cellular providers in Damak; Ncell, NTC and Smart Cell. Here, all 3 cellular providers delivers 4G services in Damak.

Worldlink Communication, Subisu, Vianet, Firstlink, Unified Communication and Classictech are Internet Service Provider (ISP) which are providing internet services in Damak.

Damak has five FM stations named Pathibhara FM(93.6MHZ), Saptarangi FM(101.6mHZ, Radio Himshikhar(103.3Mhz), Star FM(92Mhz), Radio Jhapa (100.7Mhz), and Radio Kings FM (104.1Mhz).[3] But national radio station Radio Nepal and other surrounding FM stations Kanchanjungha FM, Saptakoshi FM, Koshi FM, Kantipur FM can clearly be heard in the city. Damak is also broadcasting the television channel named Himshikhar Television from a couple of years and running successfully in the region. A new TV channel named Jagriti CT channel is also currently broadcasting in Damak. There used to be two TV DTH providers named National cable and another Kankai cable( which later merged with National cable and started its services with the name Jagriti National Cable and later named as Doen TV (2017) and Mero TV (2019)) in Damak.

There are 2 single movie hall named Pathibhara Chalchitra Mandir and Damak Chalchitra Mandir and DMAX Cinema is multiplex where movies can be watched.

References

1. "National Population and Housing Census 2011" (PDF). Central Bureau of Statistics. Government of Nepal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
2. "Nepal Census 2001".
3. "Saptarangi FM official website". theowner. Retrieved 21 October 2010.

External links

Official website