Auro-Orchard land exchange

The Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly (RA-WCom) has sent its concerns and a rebuttal of the recent land exchange involving Auro Orchard land to the Governing Board and the International Advisory Council. It pointed out that several inaccurate and wrong statements have been circulated both by the administration of the Auroville Foundation office [see AVToday # 313 Brief News] and from the Working Committee supported by the Auroville Foundation (AVF-WCom), such as the sizes of the land to be exchanged, the large financial losses incurred by Auroville, the secrecy of the deal, and the fact, that, notwithstanding assurances given by the AVFO office, a significant portion of the farm has been exchanged, including its main entrance, inner pathways, cultivated fields, orchards, grazing areas, and a primary bore well with a central irrigation system, but also cowsheds, godowns, and an inhabited residence. It requested that all further land exchanges be halted until an immediate investigation into this matter can be carried out, and that this deal is reversed before irreparable damage is done to the farm, to Auroville's physical body, and to its spirit.