Karwar: The four laning of the national highway project will soon sound death knell for the British era buildings which are more than 150-year-old.

The British had built few buildings in 1864 to enhance the trade in the region, keeping Karwar as operational headquarters. Post independence, the offices of public works department, education and postal departments started functioning from these heritage buildings. The area where these buildings stand now has been earmarked for demolition for four-lane highway in the region. The demolition work is likely to begin soon by foregoing their existing structural strength.

Huge tracts of land have been acquired in Thodur where even assessment of houses that are likely to bite the bust has been completed. The process of land acquisition is pending in Chendiya and Chittakula villages. Despite villagers’ protest to create a bypass at Amadahalli, their proposal has been ignored by resorting to road widening. Around 45 meters of land will be acquired by the side of the existing road even after the local MLA joined protestors demanding the road authorities to forego the idea.

The proposed four lane will run from Binaga to Lanon bridge in Karwar and around 80 percent tunnelling works have already been completed. Even a bridge across river Kali is in the finishing stages to give a complete shape to the projects. Levelling of few small hillocks along with security measures along the tunnelling route is pending execution, according to IRB Company which is in charge of the road contract works.

The government had issued a 3D notification to acquire 38.35 hectares of land in 8 different village limits barring a small section in city limit for the proposed four-lane project. Only 4.3 hectares belongs to the government and the rest to private owners of which 14.61 hectares of land acquisition has already been completed. About Rs 56 Crore has been set aside for compensation.