Damak Municipality

Demographics

At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, Damak Municipality had a population of 75,743. Of these, 65.0% spoke Nepali, 19.2% Limbu, 11.3% Maithili, 4.6% Dhimal, 4.1% Rai, 2.9% Newar, 2.5% Tamang, 1.5% Magar, 0.9% Hindi, 0.8% Rajbanshi, 0.7% Urdu, 0.5% Gurung, 0.4% Bengali, 0.4% Bantawa, 0.4% Tharu, 0.3% Bhojpuri, 0.3% Majhi, 0.3% Rajasthani, 0.3% Santali, 0.3% Sunwar, 0.2% Kisan, 0.2% Kumal, 0.1% Bhujel, 0.1% Chamling, 0.1% Sherpa, 0.1% Tajpuriya, 0.1% Thulung, 0.1% Uranw/Urau, 0.1% Yakkha and 0.6% other languages as their first language.

In terms of ethnicity/caste, 23.3% were Hill Brahmin, 20.5% Chhetri, 10.6% Limbu, 6.9% Rai, 4.9% Dhimal, 5.2% Newar, 3.9% Kami, 3.2% Tamang, 3.0% Damai/Dholi, 2.2% Magar, 1.4% Musalman, 1.3% Teli, 1.1% Gharti/Bhujel, 1.0% Kumal, 1.0% Tharu, 0.9% Rajbanshi, 0.8% Gurung, 0.8% Majhi, 0.6% Sarki, 0.5% Jhangad/Dhagar, 0.5% Marwadi, 0.5% Sanyasi/Dasnami, 0.4% Bengali, 0.4% Dev Pranami (Poudar), 0.4% Satar/Santal, 0.4% Sunuwar, 0.4% other Terai, 0.3% Hajjam/Thakur, 0.3% Kalwar, 0.2% Terai Brahmin, 0.2% Dhanuk, 0.2% Dom, 0.2% Halwai, 0.1% Chamar/Harijan/Ram, 0.1% other Dalit, 0.1% Dhobi, 0.1% other Janajati, 0.1% Kayastha, 0.1% Khawas, 0.1% Koiri/Kushwaha, 0.1% Kurmi, 0.1% Lohar, 0.1% Mallaha, 0.1% Musahar, 0.1% Rajput, 0.1% Sherpa, 0.1% Sonar, 0.1% Sudhi, 0.1% Tajpuriya, 0.1% Thakuri, 0.3% Yadav, 0.1% Yakkha and 0.4% others.

In terms of religion, 70.7% were Hindu, 16.6% Kirati, 4.9% Buddhist, 3.5% Prakriti, 2.7% Christian, 1.3% Musalman and 0.3% others.

In terms of literacy, 82.0% could read and write, 1.7% could only read and 16.3% could neither read nor write.

Damak is one of the oldest municipalities in the Eastern Nepal. It is home to many ex-Gurkha who served in the Nepali, Indian and British Military.

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 the previous 19 wards rearranged and some wards are merged. It the large Himalayan tea estate (हिमालय गूडरिक) where the former royal family has invested and a palace was built for the ex King and Queen where palace also build for stay of Royal families. 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 Province No. 1. Pashuhat, located in Damak-7, is known as the biggest cattle market in the eastern Nepal.

Education

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

School Data

• Primary1038
• Lower Secondary700
• Secondary1408
• Technical School Under CTEVT490
• Higher Secondary1500
• Affiliated Campus9

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 three cellular providers in Damak; Ncell, NTC and Smart Cell. Here, all three cellular providers deliver 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 (93.6 MHz), Saptarangi FM (101.6 MHz), Radio Himshikhar (103.3Mhz), Star FM (92Mhz), Radio Jhapa (100.7Mhz), and Radio Kings FM (104.1Mhz). 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 nationwide. 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. SIM TV are also started to provide the DTH services, and later Dish Home also started a services in Damak.

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

References

References

1. "National Population and Housing Census 2011". [[Government of Nepal]].
2. [https://nepalmap.org/data/table/?table=LANGUAGE&primary_geo_id=local-4006&geo_ids=local-4006,district-28,province-1,country-NP NepalMap Language]
3. [https://nepalmap.org/data/table/?table=CASTE&primary_geo_id=local-4006&geo_ids=local-4006,district-28,province-1,country-NP NepalMap Caste]
4. [https://nepalmap.org/data/table/?table=RELIGION&primary_geo_id=local-4006&geo_ids=local-4006,district-28,province-1,country-NP NepalMap Religion]
5. [https://nepalmap.org/data/table/?table=LITERACY_SEX&primary_geo_id=local-4006&geo_ids=local-4006,district-28,province-1,country-NP NepalMap Literacy]
6. "Nepal Census 2001".
7. (November 2010). "Saptarangi FM official website". theowner.