Why such a row over RoWs?

If we stand by the Charter of Auroville then we must consider this: in January 1968, a city plan, commissioned by the Mother, was approved. Two weeks later She wrote the Charter. At the inauguration of Auroville, the city plan, soon known as the Galaxy Plan, formed the gateway to the Amphitheatre where the Charter pledged the city for humanity. The material and spiritual basis of Auroville, so established, gave it further dimensions as the City of the Future, at the Service of the Truth, a Town of Universal Culture, the City of Dawn, all on that same morning. It was a city born of a vision, for a purpose. We are only the participating custodians to see that Auroville fulfils its course both spiritually and materially. This is a recognition and respect for the givens we have been entrusted with. 

The city plan has some key features: a Centre, four swirling Zones held together by the Crown circle, and the Greenbelt. Though born fifty-three years ago, the city plan is not something old but the ‘cradle’ that will hold Auroville’s evolution till the Charter is fulfilled and beyond. 

Some people have problems with the inner circle, or Crown. It is interesting to know that when the architect brought the Mother a conventional, rectangular model, She barely looked at it, but was pleased with another model which had concentric circles and a centre. This would evolve to the swirling Galaxy plan.

Why is a circle so objectionable? As a form it is a universal symbol of totality, perfection, the Self, the infinite. Spiritually, it represents a Divine life-force in motion and in unity. The spiralling circle symbolises an evolutionary energy. Why would we want to distort all that? 

According to our ‘history’, the chief architect, Roger Anger, left Auroville for almost a decade. On his return in 1985, the first thing he wanted to do was to mark the Crown, as the Matrimandir was already on its way. The Mother’s explanation of the Auroville symbol in 1971, 

provides a hint why: “The dot at the centre represents Unity, the Supreme; the inner circle represents the creation, the conception of the City…”

So, let us look at some ‘historic’ ground reality. The first walkabout with the architect and Aurovilians to mark the circle was met with resistance at a few points where people were protective of their territory and saw it as a threat. The Crown became the evil road which would bring in the polluting traffic and the ‘outside.’ Thirty-five years down the line we have allowed just that to happen. Cars, lorries and motorbikes roar in from Kuilapalayam around the Matrimandir and different parts of town. We like speeding, motorcycles and cars too. 

In the meantime our town planners began facing problems of houses deliberately built on the Crown, agreements blithely broken and trees planted to prevent the Crown from passing, none of which existed in the mid 80s. The blockages have resulted in missed opportunities to acquire land, rising prices the more we delay, divisions in the community, and by setting a pretty bad example to those outside who see how we delay, hamper and encroach our own city area. 

In the case of the Crown RoW, apart from two or three ‘flashpoints’ the infrastructure installation has been ongoing and only a last stretch remains.  The Auroville Master Plan describes the Crown as a special zone where the four zones merge to form the town’s main urban centre. It has a width of 75m which includes the Crown circulation corridor, approximately 18 to 24m, plus the buildings on both sides. The Crown RoW includes circular pedestrian, cycle and e-mobility corridors. On both its sides the TDC has planned infrastructure service corridors. Documentation available shows that detailed service corridor plans for the Crown RoWs, radials and service roads were prepared and approved in March 2012 and updated in September 2016. It is obvious, even to a layperson, that underground infrastructure services are installed along the sides of the RoWs and not where they may end up under a building or other facilities.

There will also be trees (not forest) on both sides of the Crown (see map 3) or, on one side, if we opt for a solar tram, keeping the arcades along the buildings visible across the street. These arcades are pedestrian pathways shaded from sun and rain under which people can walk or skateboard all around town.

The real issue therefore is not about a cable but about implementation of Auroville’s unique urban centre, the Crown, part of its Master Plan. The HT cable just happens to be the first infrastructure service to be installed. Other services will follow. The proposal to shift the routing of the cable (and other infrastructure services) is in essence a proposal to do away with the Crown and distort the Galaxy.

The Auroville infrastructure services, including Auroville Electrical Service, Aurinoco, Auroville Water Service and even Auroville surveyors, face obstructions, always at the same spots and are forced to install underground services in a temporary, haphazard manner, as is being proposed again. This is unacceptable by any standard and results in a chaotic and unmanageable infrastructure, difficult to trace and access.

How Bliss ‘forest’ came to dominate much of the City Centre and the Industrial Zone Crown is a mystery. A closer look at this area in the Galaxy Plan or the City Centre study detailed under Roger, clearly shows the Vocational Training area plus buildings along the Crown in between green corridors. Bliss ‘forest’ overrules all this without engaging with Auroville’s development plans nor its green network, which is ideal for an environmental and developmental collaboration as a pedestrian city centre with parks, gardens, urban farms, woods and water bodies that the Galaxy Plan indicates. 

Recently, Sanjeev’s Auronet blog stated that in the early years those who planted in the city area knew that they were planting in the city and that this could not be a permanent green space. Planting was a way to safeguard the land and prevent erosion till such time when that part of the city was ready to develop. Keeping this in mind it would be best to plant TDEFs where no development is planned so as not to block the city but to work together for a beautiful and harmonious realization of Auroville. There is only one stakeholder in this evolutionary project after all, the Divine.