BIRGANJ

town, southern Nepal, in the Terai, a low, fertile plain, near the Indian border. Southwest of Kathmandu, it is an important marketing centre (rice, wheat, barley, corn , jute) and a terminus for the narrow-gauge railway running north to Amlekhganj and connecting with a ropeway leading to Kathmandu. The town is also served by the Indian North-Eastern Railway. Industry is limited to sugar processing and the manufacture of cigarettes and matches. A fish breeding and distribution centre has been established there with assistance from the United States, which also sponsored construction of the Tilawe Nadi irrigation dam, 10 miles (16 km) north. Pop. (1981) 43,642.