BANEPA: Police had to fire five rounds of teargas shells to open the Araniko Highway for traffic today after the locals blocked it in protest against the death of a person in a road accident in Kavrepalanchok district.

Vehicular movement on the highway at Patlekhet of Dhulikhel Municipality-11 has now come into operation after the blockade was removed and the crowd of people assembled on the road was dispersed, police stated.

"The locals had blocked the highway after disagreement over the compensation amount to the relatives of the accident victim. We had to use teargas to remove the highway blockade," Superintendent of Police Sahakul Thapa at the District Police Office, Dhulikhel, said.

37-year-old Phulmaya Tamang of Namobuddha Municipality-1, was knocked down by a passenger bus (Ba 3 Kha 5955) on Sunday while crossing the road. Severely injured Tamang was taken to the Dhulikhel Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries on Monday.

Police has claimed that the locals blocked the highway over the issue of compensation while the locals have said that they blocked the highway to press the bus entrepreneurs to sit for dialogue as they were skirting the talks. Traffic was halted on the highway for a while due to the blockade.

Gauri Lama, a local accused the police of using force against the locals who were demonstrating to put pressure on the transport entrepreneurs to join the talks to decide about the compensation to the victim's family.