BIRGUNJ, JULY 4 Local residents and business owners staged fresh protests in Birgunj on Saturday against the government's road expansion project, demanding compensation and alternative arrangements before demolition of roadside structures. Protesters, led by the Birgunj Bachau Sangharsha Samiti and the Birgunj Youth and Traders Road Victims Struggle Committee, burned tyres and chanted slogans against the ongoing demolition drive. The protests followed the mobilisation of bulldozers by the Hetauda Road Division Office and Birgunj Metropolitan City to remove structures built within the road's right of way. The Department of Roads plans to widen the city's main road from Gandak Chowk to Miteri Bridge to 25 metres on each side. Local residents argue that more than 1,100 property owners and thousands of businesses would be affected. The demonstrators said the expansion should not proceed without a clear compensation package or rehabilitation plan. They warned that protests would continue until their demands were addressed. Authorities, however, said they were implementing a Supreme Court ruling that cleared legal hurdles to the long-delayed road expansion project and urged people to remove structures within the designated road boundary.