Campaign resumes for saving All Saints’ Church trees from metro axe

A section of the congregation at the All Saints’ Church and environmental activists have resumed the protest to save trees from being axed for the Gottigere-Nagavara metro line.

On Sunday, about 100 protesters came together to discuss the way forward. Many of them hugged trees in a show of love and urged the authorities to find an alternative to the felling of trees.

The campaign to protect the Sacred Grove, a small park located on the church premises at Hosur Road in the heart of Bengaluru, had begun two years ago. The issue has since snowballed into a land dispute between defence authorities and the Church of South India Trust Association.

The association, the legal holding body of the movable and immovable properties of the Church of South India, is accused of illegally granting the land to All Saints’ Church. The matter has reached the high court.

The Environment Support Group, an NGO, recently started an online petition in an attempt to save heritage trees at the sacred grove.