Nearly six years after laying the foundation stone, work on the construction of Abbakka Bhavan is expected to start near Thokkottu this year. The construction of the bhavan was among the projects related to Rani Abbakka which are pending to be taken up in Dakshina Kannada.
The bhavan is estimated to cost ₹8 crore. According to Kota Srinivasa Poojary, Minister in charge of Dakshina Kannada, the work will start shortly.
The demand for the bhavan was made by the Veerarani Abbakka Utsava Samiti, which started organising the Abbakka Utsava in Ullal from 1997 by collecting funds from people. The samiti held the utsava by collecting donations till 2010 and the State government started allotting funds for the annual event later.
Then Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda initially released ₹2 crore for the bhavan and ₹5 crore was released at the time of laying the foundation stone for it in June 2014. In addition, the government gave ₹1 crore later.
The three-storey bhavan will come up on about 0.4 acres of land, which includes the 20 cents of land originally earmarked for the construction of Gadi Bhavan for cultural activities in border areas.
The bhavan will have an auditorium to accommodate about 1,000 persons on the upper ground floor, while parking for vehicles will be in the basement. The lower ground floor will have a dining hall. A small auditorium and Abbakka Museum have been proposed on the first floor.
Following administrative approval by the State government, the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) has now been asked by the government to submit a plan of the project.
