How to drive a reg/integer in a dut so as to avoid the error of Illegal combination of structural and procedural drivers

UVM
, , , ,
1 
module A (
         req
        ,clk
    );

        input   req;
        input clk;

        always @ (posedge clk )
        begin
           state_reg   <=  START;
        end
        reg [1:0]   state_reg=INVALID;
         -  
       <REST OF THE CODE in module A>

endmodule

My interface :

interface A_if(inout  state_reg)

 task force_reset();
 force state_reg = 2'b11;
 endtask
endinterface

I get this error:
Illegal combination of structural and procedural drivers.
Variable “state_reg” is driven by an invalid combination of structural and
procedural drivers. Variables driven by a structural driver cannot have any other drivers.

Note I cannot change the dut code i.e (module A) and this is just a dummy code, written to convey the issue.

2

In reply to dave_59:

Thanks dave for the prompt reply. Apologies for the delay in response .
Yes you are correct i am using binds to instantiate my interface.
The first solution worked for me .