The tussle over the ownership of a plot of land between defence forces and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) escalated on Saturday morning as Army units moved to fence the land in dispute with barbed wire. The land adjacent to Police Parade Ground, off Cubbon Road, is under dispute.
The BMRCL approached the High Court and asked it to direct the defence authorities not dispossess its employees from the land. The court on Friday, in an interim order, restrained defence authorities from obstructing access to or interfering with the land belonging to Namma Metro project.
“Fencing started early in the morning on Saturday and our officials and workers were not allowed to take their vehicles into the compound. We tried to explain to the guards at the spot that there was a court order allowing us to continue working, but they did not listen. There were a group of guards posted to keep us out,” a senior BMRCL official said.
The issue was finally resolved in the evening at a meeting between defence authorities and BMRCL officials. Defence authorities permitted the BMRCL to cut the fence at an entry/exit point of their choosing.
To prevent encroachment
In the letter to the BMRCL, defence authorities claimed that the fencing was “carried out to prevent encroachment from any private parties on the said defence land”.
“However, as agreed, we shall cater for an opening to allow entry/exit for your said work on a temporary basis till completion of your metro construction work,” the letter said. The BMRCL claims that the land, measuring 41,732.3 sq. m, was handed over to it in 2009 by the State government. The area is currently being used for storage and maintenance-related work for the north-south line of Phase 1 of Namma Metro. However, it is also slated to be developed as a terminal for the proposed high-speed rail link to the Kempegowda International Airport, the BMRCL said in its petition to the High Court.
