The high point in last month’s “Walk Down Memory Lane” in Richmond Town, hosted by India Heritage Walks, was undoubtedly the 150 year old All Saints Church. Apart from showcasing this little jewel of Gothic style architecture, the walk, painstakingly researched and curated by architect Anushritha YS, drew attention to a vexed civic issue that continues to plague Bangalore citizens with no satisfactory solution in sight in the foreseeable future.

Richmond Town which forms part of Bangalore’s Cantonment area and lies bang in the middle of the city’s upscale Central Business District, was established by the British in 1883. The area is dotted with colonial design buildings often tucked away in not so frequented alleys and lanes but which contribute nonetheless to the city’s rich heritage. The All Saints Church on the other hand, set in a 6 acre campus which also houses a school and an and old peoples’ home, is located close at hand to the busy crossroads of Vellara Junction and Hosur Road, offering an oasis of peace and tranquillity away from the noise and pollution nearby.

The church itself stands in the middle of the grounds surrounded by a flower garden and a wooded cluster of trees and has the air of an English country church or a fairy tale cottage. Its low tiled roof and skylights allow plenty of sunlight suffusing the church with a warm glow emanating as much from the beautiful stained glass window behind the altar.
Founded in 1870 by Rev Samuel Thomas Pettigrew, the church today has 500 families as members from the earlier 150 families. But its founder, himself a keen botanist and entomologist with an abiding interest in trees and flowers, birds and insects as well as architecture and buildings, would today be turning in his grave appalled by the ongoing dispute between Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) and the All Saints Congregation Association over the proposed Vellara underground station along the Gottigere-Nagawara or Red Line of Namma Metro’s Phase 2 programme.

A number of thorny issues are at stake and a breakdown of the negotiation process has caused an impasse with the progress of the project being temporarily stalled. Excavation work on the 5.63 kms underground metro corridor would involve pressing into service giant tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to drill and bore through massive rocks and boulders which are part of the city’s geological structure. All parties are agreed on the principle that the proposed underground metro corridor would go a long way towards improving Bangalore’s public transport system, decongesting roads and bringing much needed relief to harried commuters. However, it is feared that the vibrations during underground tunnelling may adversely impact the security of buildings in the vicinity and cause cracks to appear in their structures. The safety of a 150 year old heritage building such as the All Saints Church may well be compromised.

Various alternative proposals and suggestions have been put forth from dropping the idea of the Vellara station and merging it with the nearby Langford Town station to constructing a much smaller 150 metre length Vellara station to circumvent the problem. However, the main bone of contention in the ugly tussle between the two opposing parties is the one surrounding the question of land acquisition. The members of the church maintain that they have never been opposed to the construction of the underground station and point out that the Church has already relinquished 3500 sqm of land belonging to it for the metro project. What they are against is BMRC’s demand for an additional 4833 sqm of land inside the church compound which is ostensibly required for a “dumping ground” for placing cranes and other machinery during tunnelling activities. Social activists, church members, environmentalists and conservationists have jointly opposed this proposal pointing out that the exercise would involve the axing of more than 100 odd trees in the compound some of which are 100 years old and are home to several rare species of birds. It would also mean dislocating the old age home and the school for children with special needs. In their petition they have asked BMRC not to acquire the additional land inside church premises but to seek army land or any other nearby land as the temporary dump yard. If the Vellara station could be shifted by 70-100 metres the trees could be saved and the ecology of the area preserved.

From their side BMRC representatives maintain that the Vellara station cannot be dropped as the distance between the Langford Town station and M.G. Road would then be 2144 metres thereby depriving the metro facility to a large number of people in the surrounding vicinity. In defence of acquiring the additional land in the church compound they aver that less than 50 trees would need to be felled, an argument rubbished by the activists and protestors as a ploy meant to use a loop hole in the Tree Preservation Act to avoid the requirement of public consultation.
In a recent development a member of the All Saints Church Congregation Association has written to the European Investment Bank (EIB) requesting intervention, the EIB being the leading financier of the 13-km metro corridor project. Meanwhile the controversy continues to rage with a new twist to the drama with the Defence Estate Office (DEO) of the Defence Ministry saying that the land belongs to them and that the compensation for the land should be paid to the Consolidated Fund of India.

It remains to be seen which way the wind will blow and one can only hope for a speedy and amicable solution to the imbroglio safeguarding the interests of all concerned.