Crown Road

A press release stated that the Auroville Foundation has proposed to launch a tram and toy train network in collaboration with the Indian Railways to improve internal transportation in Auroville.

Jyoti Naoki Eri was born in Kyoto, Japan, to accomplished artist parents. He trained as a sculptor in Japan through a traditional apprenticeship process.

In the recent ruling of the Supreme Court of India, the learned judge, regarding the need for Auroville’s development vis-à-vis environmental protection, stated that “…while the right to a clean environment is a guaranteed fundamental right under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, the right to development through industrialization equally claims priority under fundamental rights particularly under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

On 20 March, the Ministry of Education, responding to two Right to Information requests dated 25 and 26 February, sent the applicant a copy of the Minutes of the 68th Meeting of the Governing Board (GB) of the Auroville Foundation held on 5 December 2024, which have since been widely distributed in Auroville.

On 17 March 2025, the Supreme Court of India delivered two judgements. One was on the appeal of the Auroville Foundation against the verdict of the National Green Tribunal passed in April 2022; the other on the appeal of the Auroville Foundation against the judgement of the Madras High Court of March 2024 regarding the Auroville Town Development Council.

The National Green Tribunal verdict and appeal The Auroville Universal Township Master Plan (Perspective 2025) is a perspective and directional document that was approved in 2001 by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) – now Ministry of Education (MoE) – and published by the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation in the Gazette of India in 2010.

The construction of the Crown Road, ORR and various radials is running into problems as a number of private, temple or Poramboke (government) lands, which are necessary to complete the envisioned urban plan, have not yet been purchased.

Road construction continues across Auroville, with at least 9 sections of road currently being built. Most of the construction work is being completed by CPWD; Michael Bonke’s team is building one section of the Crown, which starts at Savitri Bhavan and goes towards the PTDC.

A detailed evaluation report published in November 2024 by Satprem Maïni, Director of the Auroville Earth Institute, highlighted several concerns regarding the ongoing construction of a bridge at Darkali for the Crown Road project.

Prashant Hedao was the Regional Planning Coordinator of L’Avenir d’Auroville, Auroville’s Town Planning Department, from 2007-2010. In those years he worked closely together with then Governing Board member Dr BV Doshi on the Auroville Master Plan.

The Auroville Town Development Council constituted by the Governing Board (ATDC) informed the community through a mass bulletin on 25 December 2024 that Auroville is currently implementing its road network, which comprises the Crown, Radial Roads, and the Outer Ring Road, and that, consequently, all Red Assets connected to this project, i.e. structures located on the road or on the rights-of-way, will need to be demolished.

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.

In light of an interview published in Auroville Today’s October issue that presented a perspective on Auroville’s current governance situation, we feel it necessary to offer a different view that more accurately reflects the experiences and concerns of many in our community.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD), in its E-Tender Portal, stated that in the period from June 2022 to June 2024 an amount of almost Rs 60 crores (approximately US$ 7.3 million) has been allocated for 50 different civil works in Auroville.

Dr. Jayanti Ravi, the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, recently has looked into the possibility to build the remaining section of the Crown Road with all components being manufactured in Auroville and using Auroville resources for its construction.

April 2024. Trucks are driving up and down, day and night, to transport earth dug up from the second section temporary hillock opposite the Town Hall.

Recently, as there was widespread concern about what was happening with the Matrimandir lake excavation, a task force was created at a General Meeting to prepare a design brief that would frame the aesthetic, environmental, functional and technical parameters to undertake the preparation of an alternative concept design.

In February, the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture hosted a double exhibition: Bhavyo’s paintings of the icy peaks of the Himalayan Tosh valley were displayed in its main room, while a number of urban design studies of his twin sister Bhavya were hung around the courtyard.

From the website it became known that the Auroville Foundation Office has invited many tenders for carrying out various works. Amongst them are: doing a digital topographical survey for the area beyond the Outer Ring Road up to the Green Belt region and a complete layout for Auroville from the centre to the Green Belt; a tender for the execution of the balance portion of the Crown Road, including the provision of led street lighting; a tender for the construction of the Darkali bridge at the Crown Road; a tender for the construction of the Outer Ring Road from the secondary service node to the Visitor’s Centre Parking, including led street lighting; and the demarcation of service nodes and proposed building location as per layout.

In August last year, Omar, Mona and David made a presentation to the community about the next steps they envisaged after the Dreamweaving on the Crown experiment [see AV Today no.

This statement, issues on 4th January 2024, is issued in response to the indiscriminate feeling of numerous trees apparently for road construction, currently taking place in Auroville.

On the 4th January, many people were shocked to see many Service trees (Peltophorum pterocarpum/ Copper Pod tree) being felled on the Crown between the Solar Kitchen and Mahalakshmi Home.

On December 14, 2023, the Supreme Court of India, in an interim order on the appeal of the Auroville Foundation against the judgement of the National Green Tribunal Southern Bench (NGT) of April 2022 in which, except for the Crown Road, the NGT stayed all constructions in Auroville and directed the Auroville Foundation to prepare a proper township plan and obtain Environmental Clearance for it [see AVToday #394 of May 2022] ruled that it was of the prima facie opinion that this direction was outside the jurisdiction of the NGT, and stayed it till further orders.

The Auroville Forest Group circulated a public message to the Auroville community and friends of Auroville about what the group has gone through and its plans for the future.

On November 21st, India’s Supreme Court heard an appeal filed by the Auroville Foundation office against the ruling of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) of April 2022. which emphasized the need for comprehensive town plans and environmental clearance before embarking on any development, while giving conditional clearance for creating the Crown Road.

On 2nd November 2023, the AVFO Working Committee held a closed meeting at Unity Pavilion. The invitation, sent only to selected “friends”, explained “in the recent months, people have become confused by some of the stories and fears that have been spread … we want to take the opportunity to hear your views and questions and try to answer them as best we can.”

The RA TDC is continuing to document and report on instances of tree cutting across Auroville. Their report of 7th September 2023 shows that at least 378 trees have been cut on the proposed Crown and Outer Ring Road trajectories since the NGT judgment of April 2022.

The ongoing works on the Crown Road, which have slowed or halted on some stretches, combined with summer monsoon rains, have caused difficult travelling conditions.

In a few decades, perhaps, it will be clearer to take an account of what did we lose, what did we gain, and overall, what we did learn that will help us to take another small step together, collectively.

Work is now going on apace to finish the Crown road, using RCC slabs rather than the paver blocks which were first experimented with. However, a study by the Auroville Earth Institute concludes that “The new road surfacing design approved by the Auroville Town Development Council appointed by the secretary for the surfacing of this road does not follow any Indian standard.

In Auroville Tomorrow no. 5, Anupama Kundoo, the head of Urban Design at the ATDC, introduced a proposal for independent transport networks in the city tied to the Crown.

A number of assets have been built over the years in areas that are deemed reserved for other purposes according to the Master Plan. These areas include the Crown and the Outer Ring Road.

The planet desperately needs a collective second-tier solution, and Auroville could provide this. It’s a fascinating time. We are facing a very serious, even existential, threat at the moment, and the outcome is uncertain.

The last two months have continued to witness dramatic and, for some residents, distressing events in the community. Here is a brief update, drawn from reports in the public domain.

Recently, the Dreamweaving the Crown exercise finished. Approximately 70 people – Dreamweaving architects, their peers, multidisciplinary experts, focus groups and randomly selected members of the Residents Assembly – took part at various stages of the exercise, which began with a Crown walk at the end of December and concluded with an exhibition and presentation to the larger community in early April process [see AV Today no.391 for full details of the programme].

On April 28th, 2022, the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Chennai, comprising judicial member Justice K. Ramakrishnan and expert member K.

Narratives are very powerful in both positive and negative ways. They can make us resolute, like “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”, or they can be destructive when misapplied, like the Biblical narrative that tells us God gave mankind ‘dominion’ over the Earth.

The ‘Dreamweaving the Crown’ is part of a process which attempts to bring down to the ground the Galaxy and the Master Plan in the form of a Detailed Development Plan (DDP).

35 years ago, much of the land intended for Auroville’s future Mahasaraswati Park, located near to the Town Hall, still belonged to neighbouring Kottakarai village.

On 31st December, the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, Dr. Jayanti Ravi, invited the community to meet with her the next day when she would answer questions.

About 30 non-Indian Aurovilians who had joined efforts to stop bulldozers destroying the Crown Road stretch through the Bliss and Darkali forests, have received visits from officers of the Regional Registration Office, requesting to see their passport and Residential Permit, asking if they had been joining the ‘agitation’

In a well-attended meeting of the Residents' Assembly (RA) held on January 2nd, a proposed decision to be made by the RA (RAD) was formulated:

To respected members of the Governing Board... Dear Aurovilians... Dear Dr. Jayanti Ravi... Dear friends of the Auroville Working Committee...

Green work in Auroville is lauded as a fantastic achievement of what can be done to transform a desert land into a green oasis – but other hidden aspects of this green work are not only negative but even extremely harmful for the Auroville Project.

It is always foolhardy to offer conclusions when the dust has yet to settle during a major turmoil or, when, indeed, controversy is still roiling the community.

In the aftermath of the recent Residents’ Assembly Meeting, I have tried to understand and introspect the inner resistance that I have been feeling towards “moving on”.

Cristo was the Coordinator of the Auroville Universal Township Integrated Master Plan 1999, the first Auroville Master Plan, which was approved by the community.

Prashant Hedao is a landscape architect and environmental planner with a Masters in Landscape Architecture and a Ph.D in Geography. He is also a consultant with the WHO's GIS Centre for Health.