A prolonged blockade mounted by southern lowlanders on the "Friendship Bridge" linking the Nepali town of Birgunj with Raxaul in India had caused acute fuel shortages and spurred smuggling along the porous border. "Trucks are moving smoothly," Nepali police official Habendra Bahadur Bogati told Reuters. "We hope that it will be normal. But we can't say if this will continue." A meeting of United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) to be held in the capital on Saturday is set to lift the four-month long blockade along Nepal-India border points. During their recent visit to Patna, India, earlier this week, top three UDMF leaders -- Upendra Yadav, Rajendra Mahato and Mahendra Raya Yadav -- reached an informal agreement to temporarily lift the border blockade. However, the UDMF, in its Saturday's meeting, will formally make such decision along with revision of the current forms of protest, sources claimed. UDMF leaders said they are for lifting the border blockade so as to prevent the rampant smuggling of fuel and other essentials along the Nepal-India border. The leaders, responding to the concerns of Indian leaders in Bihar, acknowledged the illegal trade as a side-effect of the border-centric blockade.
