Bhubaneswar, Feb. 4: The road passing through the historic Khandagiri and Udaygiri hills will finally be closed for traffic by March-end this year as the plying of vehicles was affecting the lifespan of the delicate rock-cut caves.

The tourism and culture department will hand over the land to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for development of the twin hills listed as monuments of national importance. The ASI looks after these monuments.

The vibration caused by the vehicles is affecting the stone carvings. The Khandagiri-Udayagiri hills date back to 1st Century BC and they are famous for their caves, carvings and inscriptions and were used by Jain monks in the past.

There is an alternative road encircling the twin hills and therefore, the visitors will not face any difficulty since vehicles can be parked at a designated parking lot behind Udayagiri hills and near the interpretation centre. The Telegraph had carried a report on May 10, 2011 on the need to close the road passing through the twin hills.

As per directive from the tourism secretary Arabinda Padhi, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) removed the encroachments and illegal structures from the foothills of the twin hills last month. With Khandagiri Mela concluding today, other necessary steps will also be taken shortly to enable closing down of the road.

ASI superintending archaeologist (Bhubaneswar Circle) Bhuvn Vikrama told The Telegraph: "The complete closure of the road bisecting the twin hills will definitely help protect the monuments. We are going to undertake beautification drive once the ownership of land comes to us from the state government."

"The administration department has already withdrawn the land from the possession of works department and transferred it to tourism department, which will hand over the land to the ASI," said a senior tourism official.Former ASI superintending archaeologist A.K. Patel on September 21, 2011, wrote a letter to the Odisha government regarding the ASI request for the transfer of land. While the ASI will beautify the land around the hills, it will also devise pathways for pedestrians and cyclists to facilitate movements of the public.

In his letter, Patel had written that besides vibration stress to the monuments, the road also gave rise to increasing commercial activities. The roadside eateries and other shops are also polluting the atmosphere with leftover food wastes and polythene wastes littered all around.

Resident Parthasarathi Das said: "The twin hills of Khandagiri-Udayagiri are prized monuments of the state and we have to preserve them. The closure of road will help protect them."

Sanjay Tripathy, a tourist, said: "Since the parking lot behind the hills has already been there for the last two years, I fail to understand what took the state government so long to close the road."

However, though the temporary stalls have been removed, the state government has asked the development authorities to demolish unauthorised concrete structures, which were being built violating the Odisha Development Authority Act, 1982 and the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (rules) 1959. Sources said a shopping mall and a high school built without plan approval would be on BDA radar for demolition in near future.