Vellara Junction metro station: Why the name?

It should be named after the All Saints Church, say congregation members. The church has parted with land, property, and trees for this upcoming underground facility

The Vellara Junction metro station coming up along the Gottigere-Nagawara line has triggered many debates. One of which concerns its name itself.

This is not the official name but something the authorities have been loosely calling it since the start, borrowing the name from a toy store that once stood in the area.

But members of the All Saints Church congregation have written to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to consider its name for the station
instead.

Besides being an iconic heritage site in the area, along the Richmond Road-Hosur Road junction, the BMRCL has acquired property and land of the church for the construction of the said underground metro station.

And so, Ebenezer Premkumar, a long-time member of the congregation, feels the “church rightfully deserves” to be acknowledged for the project. It is disappointing that BMRCL is giving credit to a private hotel property, Hotel Vellara, by naming a station after it, says Leo Saldanha, founder-trustee with Environment Support Group (ESG). “Especially when All Saints Church across the road has lost a huge chunk of its land for the station. The former BMRCL managing director Ajay Seth had assured the station would be appropriately named after the church. However, that promise has not been kept yet,” he adds.

BMRCL speaks

Anjum Parvez, managing director of BMRCL, clarifies that the name of the station hasn’t been finalised. “Since the beginning of the project, it has been known to the public as the Vellara Junction metro station. But this name is not official yet,” he says.

Talking about the process of zeroing in on a name, Anjum says requests from people will be presented in front of a committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary and a final call will be taken.

Generally, a station is named after the locality it comes up in, such as MG Road, Kengeri, and Rajajinagar.

If a private party would like a station to be named after them, “a fee of around Rs 65 crores is levied,” he informs.

Meanwhile, the land acquisition debate

The tussle between BMRCL and All Saints Church over acquiring the latter’s land, property, and a ‘sacred grove’ was settled last week. BMRCL and the church authorities have agreed upon reduced land acquisition and also for axing seven trees instead of the initial plan of around 130.

"Around 39,000 sq ft (of the property owned by the church) has been acquired by the BMRCL. They also wanted 49,000 sq ft of land from the church compound. But that demand has been brought down to 4,000 sq ft. Of this, 1,700 sq ft is permanent acquisition and the rest will be returned back," he says.