Issue Nº425 – News in brief

On November 30th and December 1st, cyclone Fengal made landfall close to the city of Puducherry and the northern part of Tamil Nadu. In Auroville, hundreds of trees were uprooted, roads were blocked, power lines came down. Also, part of the “Lego Block” wall between the first and second section of the Matrimandir Lake, which had recently been raised to its full height, shifted and partially collapsed, leading to water from the first section spilling into the second section which has not yet been lined with HDPE. More in the next issue.

On November 11th, an article in the Times of India mentioned that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (All India Anna Dravidian Progressive Federation - AIADMK), currently the main opposition party in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, which has great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry, demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's primary domestic crime-investigating agency, into the alleged irregularities in land exchanges at Auroville. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, responding to the representation of AIADMK’s former law minister C. Ve. Shanmugan, said the issue had been forwarded to the “department concerned” for action. An estimate of the cumulative financial loss to Auroville of the recent land exchanges is approximately 250 crore rupees (almost 30 million US dollars).

The recent exchanges of Auroville lands have been severely questioned by the RA Working Committee appointed by the Residents’ Assembly (RA-WCom) as well as by members of the Auroville International Advisory Council (IAC). The latter had recently written to the Governing Board (GB) conveying disappointment in the lack of transparency as regards land exchanges, resulting in a breach of trust between the GB and the Auroville residents, and urging the GB to halt any further land exchanges. The land exchanges are now also being questioned by Aurovilians who were previously supportive of the Auroville Foundation. In recent posts on Auronet, Auroville’s internal internet forum, the Working Committee approved by the Governing Board (GB-WCom) stated that they had not been consulted for a proposed new land exchange and that they were against the exchange. According to their calculations, this exchange alone represented a financial loss to Auroville of approximately 5 crores, as the seller would receive high value Auroville land located on the Tindivanam Highway in exchange for 3 small pieces of “not important” greenbelt land. They also pointed out that the GB had only given permission for outlying lands to be exchanged for Master Plan lands in the city area. They also re-shared a report to the GB that had been previously deleted. According to the GB-WCom’s calculations, the financial loss to Auroville due to the recent exchanges of AuroOrchard, Djaima and Felicity would be around 100 crore rupees. The GB-WCom stated “[these] Land exchanges … were executed in total contradiction of the Governing Board decision in its 61st meeting … In the history of Auroville, we have never suffered such a level of mismanagement. We came to know in a conversation with Mrs. M. [the AVFO Land Officer] that she continues to meet the landowners for future land exchanges. And we also discovered that a land exchange has been approved again by the Governing Board and AVF, without any consultation with the GB-WCom.”

The appeal lodged by Mr PK Subramaniam (PKS) against the previous judgment on Evergreen land, which had found the contested Evergreen land to be rightfully Auroville land, was heard on the 25th October 2024 at the Tindivanam court, and a new judgement was issued. The Additional District Judge ruled in favour of PKS, meaning that Auroville now faces the potential loss of around one acre of forested land, as well as losing the access to Evergreen community. The area is prime land that lies by the Auroville main road from Kuilaypalayam.

The verdict was a surprise because the land had been uncontested since 1992, (when it was purchased) and has been in the peaceful possession of Auroville for over 30 years with Auroville paying the land tax for it during this entire duration.

According to a mass bulletin issued by the RA WCom, certain moves by the AVFO ‘Land Service’ may have contributed to the verdict. The contested property had been included in a list of land that Auroville needed to acquire, which was shown in court to strengthen PKS’s ownership claim. Additionally, despite several requests, the AVFO and their ‘Land Service’ made no effort to take ownership of the land after the previous favourable verdict. In contrast, PKS moved quickly after this judgement and a JCB and a team of workers came to clear the area of trees from 2nd November onwards. RA WCom members and residents attempted to stop the work, requesting that a government survey be carried out beforehand. No members of the AVFO or their ‘working groups’ came to the site. The RA-WCom, in a letter to the Governing Board and the International Advisory Council, stated that, due to the fact that no new Secretary had yet been appointed, no appeal had yet been filed. The RA-WCom urged the GB to immediately lodge an appeal, as well as to convey to the relevant ministries the urgency of appointing a new resident Secretary who would take strong and quick action to protect Auroville’s lands. “Neglecting this is causing great damage and loss to Auroville’s assets and the risk of encouraging violent land speculators to take advantage of the lack of authoritative action, and possibly resulting in law and order situations,” wrote the RA-WCom.

The Government of India has still not appointed a new Secretary nor a new Acting Secretary to replace former Secretary Dr Jayanti Ravi, whose term of office ended in July 2024. Confusion is caused as Dr Ravi continues to regularly visit Auroville and is still being named as the Secretary in the press. A report of a meeting with the Chairman of the Governing Board, which was circulated by some of the Aurovilians present, stated that the Chairman had insisted on several occasions that Dr Ravi was no longer Secretary. The same had been mentioned by the hon’ble Union Home Minister in a meeting with a group of Aurovilians on September 24th.

The contractors hired by the AVFO and its Auroville Town Development Council began two new major road works immediately before the monsoon, leading again to difficult and potentially dangerous conditions for road users, in particular cyclists. In the Residential Zone, work began on the well-used and fully-functional Vikas Radial with the removal of half of the paving stones across the width of part of the road. Access to Humanscapes, Vibrance and Invocation as well as communities further along this road is affected by these actions. Work in both areas was then suddenly stopped without a known reason. It is unclear where the residents of the communities that are affected by the Vikas radial roadworks are expected to park, as their main entrances and access to secure parking is now blocked.

Other recent development work includes the clearing work for the AVFO staff quarters, a project first mentioned in the 59th GB meeting minutes. Three new buildings are planned. These quarters will be located at different points within Auroville: one near Realization community, another between Sailam and Vikas communities, and the third next to Luminosity community. In the interim, non-Aurovilian AVFO staff have been given Auroville housing in several communities without consultation with the other residents, even though there are many Aurovilians and newcomers still awaiting housing allocation.

After months of erosion [see AVToday # 422, September 2024], Sri Ma beach sands are returning. From now until March, the sand will accumulate because the current is coming from north to south.

According to meeting minutes of the Auroville Town Development Council appointed by the Governing Board, two rainwater “collection ponds” have been designed to “collect the water from the stretch of the Crown which will go from Solar Kitchen to Savitri Bhavan” and divert it to the Matrimandir Lake. One of these ponds is already a natural water collection area and the other would be an artificial collection area where the water would be filtered before being pumped into the Lake. There is no mention in the minutes of the potential impact to the local bioregion and the watershed. As this rainwater usually feeds the Irumbai pond it might lead to a negative effect upon surrounding villages’ water collection.

After a year and a half of publishing, the editors of the RA edition of the News and Notes have decided to limit the edition to content that strengthens community-building in Auroville, more specifically on working group announcements and reports, residents’ voices and personal sharings, some cultural events, and information from essential services. It will also contain a link to contents from the Foundation Office groups, in a spirit of inclusivity and giving space to all perspectives. Materials which were previously included under the sections “Activities & Events”; “Food, Goods & Services”; and “Classes, Workshops and Healing Arts” will no longer be published.

One of the reasons for this decision is that many residents continue publishing these events in both the Foundation Office’s News and Notes as well as the RA News and Notes, even though this legitimises the censorship applied by the Foundation Office’s News and Notes. The editors stated that the duplication of these events made no more sense, and that the new RA edition will only include event content if it is only submitted to the RA News and Notes, and not to the other one. 

The Auroville dog shelter has been receiving an increasing number of desperate calls to save abandoned new-born puppies. However, as the dog shelter is at maximum capacity and is regularly flooded by heavy monsoon rains, help cannot be provided. A petition has been submitted to the Auroville Foundation Office, supported by over 800 people, asking for Rs 3 lakhs in basic monthly funding to cover operational expenses. A reply is still awaited. For more information visit www.aurovilledogshelter.com.