Chitwan District is one of the seventy-five Districts of Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The district is in the western part of Narayani Zone, Bharatpur (the seventh largest city of Nepal) is its district headquarters. Bharatpur is a commercial and service centre of central south Nepal, it is the merger destination for higher education health and transportation of the region. It covers an area of 2,218 km² and has a population (2001) of 472,048. It takes its name from Chitwan Valley, one of Nepal's Inner Terai valleys between the Mahabharat and Siwalik ranges, both considered foothills of the Himalayas. Narayangarh, on the bank of Narayani River, is the main town with numerous shopping zones where people come from all over the district and neighbouring districts to shop. Now there are about 40 Village Development Committees (each of which has nine wards or villages) and one sub-Metropolitan city - Bharatpur and a municipality Ratnanagar each of which has more than ninewards or urban areas. Chitwan is one of the few remaining undisturbed vestiges of the Terai region, which formerly extended over the foothills of Nepal.