BENGALURU: Members of All Saint's Church came out in a silent protest on Saturday against the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) at the church premises for its effort to acquire the church land for the construction of Namma Metro’s Gottigere-Nagawara corridor.
The BMRCL had acquired 7,426 sqmt of land on Hosur Road, said to belong to the 150-year-old church, for the Vellara Junction station. Compensation of nearly Rs 60 crore had been paid by Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board to the church authorities.
“We are protesting against the BMRCL acquiring a heritage property and the church committee for not keeping us informed in the process. We just want some transparency. We were not aware when the committee gave away 3,600sqmt of land for Rs 60 crore. Now, the corporation has asked for additional land, which takes up a major portion of the church land,” said Christopher H D, a member of the All Saints’ Welfare Association. Saturday was their 116th day of protest.
According to the Detailed Project Report (DPR), a copy of which is with The New Sunday Express, the Metro pillars are located on the opposite side of the church which has police quarters - a government property - on it. BMRCL was to take only 2000sqft of the church property. However, there has
not been any update in the DPR after BMRCL shifted its Metro plans onto the church land.
Also, the station box is coming up right next to the BWSSB water reservoir, which has created some concern among the church members. “The reservoir contributes to a majority of places in the CBD area and we are concerned that the tank may develop cracks,” Christopher said.
As of now, all construction work at the Vellara Junction underground Metro station has come to a halt as the Army has ordered the BMRCL not to carry out any work. This is due to a dispute over land ownership between the Defence and church authorities.
On August 19, the Defence ministry had filed a complaint stating that the ministry had leased out the land to the church. Lt Col Gangadharan, quartermaster at CMP Centre and School, said according to Bangalore Military Station records of 1865, a total of 7,426sqmt was given to the church.
“It is the diocese that needs to make a decision. On August 14, we had met BMRCL officials and I had asked them to mark the area they require. I will visit the church next week to see the area,” says Prasanna Kumar Samuel, the CSI Diocese Bishop.