Kohalpur (Nepal), Feb. 22: Maoists have crippled Mahendra Raj Marg, Nepal?s main highway and link to India, with the order of an economic blockade.

Nripad Kumar Parveji, a truck driver from Nagpur, braved the ban and paid the price. He was shot on Prithvi Highway, which connects the capital to the Mahendra highway, on Sunday when he was on his way back to India after delivering goods in Kathmandu.

Vijay Kumar Thapa, a Nepali driver who violated the ban to ferry a truckload of buffaloes, was shot and his vehicle blown up on Mahendra highway, which cuts across Nepal from west to east.

But most others are not taking any chances, even after the Royal Nepal Army, struggling to keep life normal, promised security. The result: last week, 65 tankers carrying petroleum products from Gonda and Allahabad in India took 11 days to cover 10 km along Rupardih-Nepalgunj road in western Nepal. The western region is the hub of Maoist activity.

Over 18 trucks on way to Kathmandu with food and other essentials offloaded their material after seven days of waiting near Nepalgunj ? the most important city in the western region, located 60 km from the Uttar Pradesh border ? and returned to India.

Even schools in Nepalgunj have come under attack. Bombs went off at the gates of five schools yesterday morning, triggering panic. There were, however, no casualties. The schools had defied an ?educational strike? called by the Maoists. The schools remained shut today.

A bomb also went off at the main gate of Nepalganj Medical College on BP Chowk, injuring three civilians.

By sundown, army jawans took over the streets, checking vehicles and searching pedestrians.

Last night, Maoists detonated a bomb at the Kohalpur-based power substation of the Nepal Electricity Authority and disrupted power supply to four adjoining districts ? Banke, Bardia, Surkhet and Dailekh.

After the blast, the Nepalgunj-Kohalpur and Nepalgunj-Surkhet roads are eerily deserted. Traffic is as good as absent, rickshaws and pedestrians filling the void. After 5 pm, life withdraws itself into the confines of homes. The slogan ?Prachand Zindabad? ? Prachand is the name of the Maoist chief ? is emblazoned on walls of houses

?We are scared by their presence everywhere. In the rural areas, across the Indo-Nepal border and in the city,? said Dinesh Gupta, a trader in Nepalgunj.

Nowhere does the Mahendra highway look so desolate as when it leaves behind the mini industrial zone of Nepalgunj and enters the hilly jungle terrain. With not a village in sight, the only people around are jawans marching in blue fatigues.

?We are trying our best to provide security to the passing trucks when they come in a group. But obviously it takes time for things to return to normal,? said Lt Col Tegh Bahadur Rajoure, chief of army operations in western Nepal.