Dang

Dang Deokhuri District, a part of Rapti Zone, is one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The district, with Tribhuvannagar as its district headquarters, covers an area of 2,955km² and has a population (2001) of 462,380.

This district contains most of two inner terai valleys, Dang and Deokhuri.

Deokhuri valley to the south encloses the (west) Rapti River, forcing it to flow west some 130 km between subranges of the Siwaliks until the southerly Dundwa range ends near Nepalganj and the river turns SE to follow the general slope of the Gangetic Plain.

Deokhuri was a historic stronghold of the Tharu people until in recent decades they were marginalized by settlers from the hills and by development along the Mahendra Highway. The Indian border is nearby, following the southern edge of the Dundwa Range. Koilabas, a bazaar town straddles this border and is an important transhipment point for goods entering Rapti Zone from India.

Dang valley lies north of Deokhuri, between the Dang subrange the higher Mahabharat Range. Dang is somewhat higher, drier, less malarial, and historically more developed than Deokhuri. Rapti zone is administered from Tulsipur, however Dang-Deokhuri district is administered from Tribhuvannagar (also called Ghorahi). Dang also has a large Tharu population.

Dang valley is drained by the Babai River. Like the Rapti, the Babai is constrained by subranges of the Siwaliks to flow west more than 100 km until these ranges give way and allow it to follow the general SE gradient of the Gangetic Plain.

Since the early 1990s activist groups have been attempting to eradicate the practice of child indentured servitude among the Tharu, many of whom sold their young daughters to wealthy families in urban areas. ^[1]

Towns and villages

Map of the VDC's in Dang Deokhuri District

Amritpur, Baghmare, Bela, Bijauri, Chaulahi, Dhanauri, Dharna, Dhikpur, Diruwa, Gadhawa, Gangapraspur, Gobardiya, Halwar, Hansipur, Hapur, Hekuli, Kabhre, Koilabas, Lalmitiya, Laxmipur, Loharpani, Manpur, Narayanpur, Panchakule, Pawan Nagar, Phulbari, Purandhara, Rajpur, Rampur, Saidha, Satbariya, Saudiyar, Shantinagar, Shreegaun, Sisahaniya, Sonpur, Syuja, Tarigaun, Tribhuwan Nagar, Tulsipur, Urahari.