Butwal

Butwal (Nepali: बुटवल), officially Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City (Nepali: बुटवल उपमहानगरपालिका), previously known as Khasyauli (Nepali: खस्यौली), is a sub-metropolitan city and economic hub in Lumbini Province in West Nepal. As of 2021, Butwal has a city population of 195,054. The city is one of the tetra-cities of rapidly growing Butwal-Tilottama-Bhairahawa-Devdaha urban agglomeration primarily based on the Siddhartha Highway in West Nepal with a total urban agglomerated population of 4,74,541. It is one of the fastest-growing cities in Nepal for health, education, construction, communication, trade, and banking sectors. It has highway connections to the Indian border at Sunauli and to the hilly towns in Tansen and Pokhara valley, and holds the title of being "The Best City in Nepal" five times in a row. Geographically, Butwal is at the intersection of Nepal's two different National Highways, Mahendra Highway and Siddhartha Highway. It connects western Nepal with the capital Kathmandu through the highway and air links (via Gautam Buddha International Airport at Siddharthanagar). The city stands beside the bank of Tinau River, and at the northern edge of the Terai plain below the Siwalik Hills. Its name, Butwal was derived from Batauli Bazaar, the town's oldest residential area which is located on the western bank of the Tinau River. Butwal was officially declared as a sub-metropolitan city on 2 December 2014 AD by combining two neighboring VDCs Motipur and Semlar. The sub-metropolitan city is currently headed by Nepali Congress leader Khel Raj Pandey.