Bengaluru: Church, environment bodies hail BMRCL for revised plan of proposed underground station

In 2018 the Detailed Project Report and Environment Impact Assessment of the Metro line from Bannerghatta Road to Nagawara, BMRCL had proposed that the station would be to the west of Hosur Road on a government property, opposite to the church. However, when the plans matured, the line was shifted in a way that a station was proposed inside the church campus.

Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board had also issued notices to acquire the church land for the cut-and-cover construction of the underground station.

“The congregation resisted this move through peaceful protests, which was joined by hundreds of people from across Bengaluru, from all religious and cultural backgrounds. Appeals were made to the Chief Minister of Karnataka, to the Prime Minister of India, (and the appeals were) subscribed by over 40,000. Yet, the process of acquiring the church land continued. In the process, the iconic Fatima Bakery which was on the church land and a garage was acquired (3,551 sq m), and plans were afoot for emergency acquisition of the sacred grove in front of the church,” it added.

In 2019, All Saints Congregation and ESG drew the attention of the Complaints Division of European Investment Bank (EIB), which is financing this section of the Metro. “Two senior officials from EIB flew in to investigate the matter. They then proposed a conciliation mechanism, which was undertaken through five online sessions (due to Covid pandemic restrictions) through 2020 in which Ajay Seth, IAS, the then MD of BMRCL and his senior team, and five members of the All Saints Church and ESG participated. At the end of the process, minor concessions were made, such as saving the Arpana School. But the sylvan sacred grove with its rich biodiversity would have to go, we were told,” the release said.

Anjum Pervez, who took over as the managing director of BMRCL in 2021, met with the congregation, and representatives of ESG and Heritage Beku to consider the possibility of saving the sacred grove, and thus also protecting the church from adverse impacts of the Metro construction.

“Against the 4,582 sq m of the sacred grove that was proposed to be acquired, only 166 sq m would be acquired permanently and 218 sq m temporarily. Only seven trees would be felled or relocated, as against over 100 heritage trees that would have been destroyed. An agreement to this effect was signed in January 2022,” the statement read.