Egmore Railway Station :the land of Egmore Railway Station belonged to Dr. Pulney Andysold it for Rs.1,00,000 to the SIR in 1904.

I had mentioned in this column that the land on which the handsome Egmore Railway Station (then of the South Indian Railway) was built had belonged to Dr. Pulney Andy (Miscellany, September 20, 2010) and that he had sold it for Rs.1,00,000 to the SIR in 1904. 

It wasn’t a particularly happy sale, I now learn from a copy of Dr. Pulney Andy’s letter to the Deputy Collector of Madras, J.R. Coombes, which was sent to me by a reader from ‘Trichinopoly’, N.C. Martens. 

The land in question was 1.83 acres in extent and had several buildings on it. It was his attachment to those buildings that were the cause for the reluctance of ‘S. Pulney Andy M.D., M.R.C.S. (Eng.), F.L.S.’ to sell the property, the letter of ‘15th February 1904’ makes clear.

Reacting to a letter from the Deputy Collector citing ‘Act I of 1894’ requesting his property for “the remodeling of the S.I.R. Egmore Station”, and asking whether he had any objections to handing it over to the S.I.R., Pulney Andy writes, “I have very strong reasons for not wishing to part with my property…” He goes to state those reasons.

Egmore Railway Station Inside

He writes that he had bought the property “mostly for the benefit of my health which was broken down after long service in the Travancore state… (and the environment proved itself over) about 30 years… not a case of any illness or death occurred among the dwellers on this estate.”

Secondly, the house was designed and built by his wife before she passed away in Travancore, after which he returned to Madras to spend the rest of his life in the house “which perpetuated her memory” and which he had improved by developing an orchard around it.

Egmore Railway Station waiting room

Then comes his most significant argument. “After retiring from Government service, I have turned my mind to the remodeling of the Indian Christian Church and am the founder and the President of the National Church of India. My residence in Egmore is the Head Quarters of the movement and I have utilized a building here for the purpose of worship and there have been already two ordinations of Ministers during the past year. It was also my intention to erect a substantial building as a Temple for public worship by members of the Christian Community on the land… (which) is centrally located.”

 With such extent of land not available in a central area, a move to a distant location where space might be available would inconvenience his congregation considerably, Pulney Andy goes on to explain at some length. He, however, concludes:

“But should it be considered that my property is absolutely required for the purpose of Railway construction and should Government desire to compel me to part with it, under the provisions of the Act, I beg to state that I may be granted a compensation of not less than one hundred thousand rupees (Rs.100,000) for it and sufficient time should be given me for removal.” 

His request was met with alacrity but not generosity, the ‘not less’ ignored, it would appear, for the handover was quick and the station was ready to flag out its first train, the Boat Mail, on June 11, 1908.

 S Muthiah, : H : 19 Oct 2014