Sullia: The inter-state Sullia-Bandadka road work has been completed. The road with a stretch of 2km which comes under Kerala and Karnataka border is expected to be inaugurated on April 18.
The state government had released Rs 3 crores under 50-54 road scheme. The road work picked up after the controversial forest land was cleared for road-laying. Finally, due to the efforts and protests by people of Karnataka and Kerala, the inter-state road work has been completed. Along with the road work, bridge and gutter work also has been completed.
For this inter-state road-laying of 1.8km, the forest department had handed over 1.35 hectres of land to Public Works Department. It also permitted to cut trees for the same.
But the Revenue department gave 3.30 acres of government land near Amara Padnoor village in Sullia instead of the land given by the forest department. As a compensation for cutting of trees for the road work, Public Works Department paid Rs 18,18,450 to forest department.
After these procedures, trees were cut and the land was handed over for road-laying. Now the work of 4m width road and drainage work also has been completed.
It was a long pending demand of the residents in the area to make Sullia-Kolchar-Kanakkur-Bandadka as an inter-state road.
From Sullia to Kolchar, a stretch of 12km road was developed earlier. At the other end, the road which falls under Kerala border was also developed. In between, a stretch of 1.8km was in pathetic condition.
After several attempts, people from the area managed to get the nod from the forest department. The road is expected to be inaugurated on April 18.
People from Sullia and Kerala will benefit from this Sullia-Bandadka road. In Kerala’s Bandadka there are more Kannadigas who mostly depended on Sullia for education, business and other requirements. Even though the road existed from decades, due to its pathetic condition, the people of the region suffered. Now with the completion of the much-awaited road, people from both the regions can connect each other easily.