Amiya Meethal Adyanadka, (Kerala-Karnataka border), August 29: The 38-year-old Haneefa, who has been living in a rented house at Chavarkad, near Adyanadka along with his wife Jameela and two kids will cross the Kerala-Karnataka interstate border umpteen times daily without any checkings.
For the house is situated in Karnataka and their toilet and the back courtyard of the house is in Kerala, according to the revenue records.
The house building comes under Kepu Grampanchayat, Bantwal taluk of Karnataka (Area no 5, building no 29/1) but the 30 cent land is divided between the two states.
Similarly, the home, owned by Ayisha Muhammed of Uppala in Kerala pays land tax at both Kepu, Enmakaje (Kerala)Villages and building tax at Kepu. This is not an exceptional case of Haneefa alone, but that of scores of people living at the border of Adyanadka which is in Karnataka, a stone’s throw away from Kerala border.
The petty shop of Shashidhara Prabhu, registered in Enmakaje GP (ward 2, door 179) is so close to Haneefa’s house that there is no space between them; literally a symbol of the bonhomie between two states of a federal union. The revenue land is overlapped between two states in an irregular manner here that many a places there is only a landmark stone between the nieghbouring states.
Between two states
The Adyandka town too has this kind of curious dichotomy. The special village officer (SPO) of Enmakaje village, Abdul Hameed has a number of instances to point out. “In Adyanadka town, there is a hotel which is situated in Karnataka, but the steps to enter the hotel are in Kerala. A poultry farm also lay down in length in both the states,’’ the SPO told Deccan Herald.
The SPO explained that many persons of Adyanadka have land and building in both states. The first two wards of Enmakaje GP, consisting of Chavarkad, Saya, Shanthapadavu, Bakilapadavu, Kootelu, Kombrebettu areas with more than 4000 people are residing along the border. These places in Kerala can be accessed from the state district headquarters (Kasargod) only by covering a 3 km stretch in Karnataka through Saradka police aid post.
Adyanadka town
Adyanadka town itself has been divided between the two states. While going from Perla towards Vitla, the left portion of the Interstate Highway is in Kerala, and right side is in Karnataka. In May 2012, when Kerala banned panmasala, Adyanadka town showed a ‘caught-in-between’ picture in which the shops at the right side of the road were adorned with pan garlands whereas shops on the other side were not. The ban came into effect only after Karnataka too stopped selling of pan in last May.
The one and only wine shop in the town also makes quick bucks on the first day of every month and dry days in Kerala. When the state beverage shops shut on those days in Kerala, people at the border throng the wine shop in Karnataka. “For the outsiders, all these are a matter of curiosity, but we have lost several of Kerala government’s benefits only because some officials consider that we are in Karnataka,” Enmakaje GP Member K Aithappa Kulal laments. Other than the hassles to clear passport verification, he also points to the ‘border game’ which Badiyadka police (Kerala) and Vitla police (Karnataka) used to play whenever a crime takes place.
More than 1 passport
People also told that being in the border areas, several persons here have more than one passport, one that of Kerala address and other that of Karnataka. “Holding more than one passport was not rare in these areas earlier. But after the passport processing switched to online system there is hardly scope for it,” a Police officer in Kasargod told DH.
