Contractor shifts border post for road work in Kolar village, locals vent anger

KOLAR: The inter-state border stone marker was shifted by about half-a-kilometre by a contractor due to irregularities in road construction near Marasanapalli village under Bairaganapalli Gram Panchayat limits in Srinivasapur taluk, it is alleged.

A road work under the PMGSY scheme is under way, and villagers have demanded action against the contractor and officials for allegedly shifting the border stone marker itself to save half a km of road work. The culprits have effectively “given away” half a km of land to Andhra Pradesh. By shifting the border stone overnight, farmers’ land in the border area has now come under Andhra Pradesh as per the current border stone marker.

The spot which the villagers claim is the actual Andhra Pradesh border.

Villagers have expressed their anger over this. They allege that the Karnataka border marker stone that was on the road connecting Marasanapalli to Booshipalli was uprooted and a new one was planted about half a kilometer inside from the original border location. This has raised suspicion that the border marker was changed in a way that effectively cedes Karnataka’s land to Andhra Pradesh.

It is said that upon checking with GPS and other methods, a difference was found between the newly planted border stone and the original border location. Against this backdrop, villagers have demanded that the Revenue Department, taluk administration, panchayat and concerned engineering officials conduct an on-site inspection and clarify the actual border based on official records and land survey.

Villagers have said they will file a complaint with the Tahsildar and the District Commissioner regarding this. This allegation related to the border area has now become a topic of intense discussion, and a thorough investigation will bring out the truth.