Purnia, Bihar, India

🇮🇳 Purnia (also romanized as Purnea) serves as the administrative headquarters of both Purnia district and Purnia division in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the largest city in north-eastern Bihar also known as Kosi-Seemanchal area. It is nearly 302 km from Patna, as well as 171 km from Siliguri, 90 km from Bhagalpur.It is 640 km from Guwahati (Approx.) and 450 km from Kolkata, the capital of the adjacent state of West Bengal and the largest city in East India. Purnia district covers 3202.31 sq. km of the state of Bihar. The Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and three of five branches of India's Central Armed Police Forces – the Border Security Force (BSF), the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) – have bases around the district.

Purnia is part of the Mithila region. Mithila first gained prominence after being settled by Indo-Aryan peoples who established the Mithila Kingdom (also called Kingdom of the Videhas). During the late Vedic period (c. 1100–500 BCE), Videha became one of the major political and cultural centres of South Asia, along with Kuru and Pañcāla. The kings of the Videha Kingdom were called Janakas. The Videha Kingdom was later incorporated into the Vajji confederacy, which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila.

Purnia and its surrounding lands lie in the sub-montane alluvial tract of the Gangetic Plain. The city however lies on the banks of numerous tributaries of the Koshi River. Two major rivers traverse Purnia city with the Kari Kosi river on the western end and the Saura river on the eastern end. The main city is situated between these two rivers.

Air Purnea Airport, also known as Chunapur Airport (Airforce Station), is located within the cantonment area but is restricted to army usage only. Proposals for the airport to operate scheduled flights are being widely discussed at the level of the state government. The nearest commercial airport, Bagdogra Airport, is about 150 km away at Bagdogra in Darjeeling district. Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport (Patna Airport) is located in Patna, capital of Bihar, at a distance of 310 km from Purnia.

Rail Purnia is served by two railway stations separated by 5 km, Purnia Junction (station code: PRNA) and Purnia Court (station code: PRNC). Purnia Junction is closer to the residents of Khuskibagh, Gulabbagh, and Eastern Purnia, while Purnia Court is in the western part of the city and caters to the residents of Madhubani, Janta Chowk, and Central and Western Purnia. Purnia Junction is situated on Barauni–Katihar, Saharsa and Purnia sections of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) and East Central Railway zone that connects Purnia to Katihar Junction, Jogbani, Saharsa Junction and Barauni Junction. There are daily and weekly trains to Kolkata, Delhi Junction, Patna Junction, Ranchi Junction, Muzaffarpur Junction, Motihari, Lucknow Charbagh, Kanpur Central, Gorakhpur Junction, Gaya Junction, and other nearby cities.

Road National Highways namely NH 31, NH 27, NH 231, NH 131A make Purnia accessible to the people from nearby cities & states while state highways connect the other neighbouring cities and villages to the main city area. The newly constructed NH 27 directly connects Purnia to some important towns and cities of North Bihar namely Darbhanga & Muzaffarpur. It takes nearly 5 hours to reach Muzaffarpur through this Expressway. This expressway which also traverses through the newly built Kosi Mahasetu bridge ends at Muzaffarpur to continue further for Patna. It has turned out to be an alternate route for Patna & has helped in decongesting the ever busy and traffic-prone NH31. NH 31 traverse the main city and terminate Gulab bagh at NH 27 in the east and Patna to the west via Mokama, Khagaria & Begusarai. The east–west corridor connecting Silchar, Assam to Gujarat passes through Purnia in the form of NH 27. It is a modern four-lane highway constructed by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). State Highways 60, 62, 65, 77 & 90 also pass through Purnia. NH 31 and NH 27 are four-lane expressways and are a strength to the intercity transportation services.