BENGALURU: For the third consecutive Sunday, protests continued against the decision of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited to acquire land belonging to the All Saints Church. BMRCL has issued notice to acquire nearly 883 sq metres of the church’s property, on the Richmond Road-Hosur Road junction, to carry out infrastructure work for the Vellara Junction Metro station on its underground corridor (Kalena Agrahara-Gottigere Line).
The protest began at 10.30 am and continued till 5.30 pm at the open space inside the church premises, with nearly 300 individuals, comprising church members environmental organisations. Banners against acquisition of the land were displayed by the participants.
Ebenezer Prem Kumar, who played a key role in the protests organised by the church congregation, told TNIE: “BMRCL wants to build the vent for its Vellara Junction Metro station here and issued us a notification on November 4 about it. We fear for the safety of our church, which is 152 years old.”
Kumar said they have also proposed an alternative to BMRCL. “The corporation had already acquired 103 metres of land belonging to the Defence across the church. The proposed structures could be built there,” he added. BMRCL did not respond to queries.