Bengaluru: A big standoff between the Army and BMRCL over acquisition of land at All Saints Church has stopped the underground Metro construction work for the last five days at Vellara Junction.
The army has ordered the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) not to carry out any work at the spot, highly-placed Metro sources told Deccan Chronicle.
There was a tussle going on between the Army and church authorities over the last few days over the ownership of land.
The Army even filed a cheating case at the Ashok Nagar police station last month against the Church of South India, the parent body of the All Saints Church, for claiming compensation from BMRCL for the land.
The BMRCL official said, “The work had commenced recently and we had demolished Fathima Bakery, Hotel Tom’s Restaurant, a BPCL petrol pump and another building. But five days ago, we were asked to stop all the construction work. Since then, everything has come to a halt and we are waiting for further orders. Also we were in the process of putting up a retaining wall so that the earth does not cave in when we carry out the excavation work.”
The sources said that Army men keep patrolling the area during the day and there is no activity taking place behind the barricaded sections.
The BMRCL had acquired 7,426 sqmt of land on Hosur Road, said to be belonging to the 150-year-old church, for the Vellara Junction station of the Red Line (Gottigere-Nagawara) of Metro’s Phase-II work.
Compensation of nearly Rs 60 crore had been paid by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board to the church authorities.
The construction firm L&T is carrying out the underground work for the 5.5 km stretch from Vellara Junction to Pottery Town.
The five stations that will come up here are at Vellara Junction, M.G. Road, Shivajinagar, Bamboo Bazaar and Pottery Town.
