Land exchanges

On November 29th, the AVFO Working Committee shared a letter received from the Special Officer of the Auroville Foundation which stated that the Foundation has exchanged 10 acres of unutilised land in the Auro Orchard and Hope communities for 15 acres of land owned by a private developer in the city and greenbelt area. Stating that the Hope and Auro Orchard communities together steward 46 acres of land, of which Auro Orchard is only farming 10-15 acres, and that the Hope community has [only] a furniture workshop and three houses, the letter mentioned that the Foundation intends to exchange another 2.5 acres of unutilised land in these communities for the Auro Oceanic resort in the Kottakarai area of Auroville and another 3.5 acres in the near future for privately-owned lands needed for the Matrimandir and the city. This leaves 2 acres for Hope and 28 acres for Auro Orchard. The location of the 6 acres to be exchanged will be done after consultation with the landstewards. The Special Officer stated that the exchanges had been approved by the Governing Board in its 64th meeting.

Earlier, the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly (RA-WCom), having learned through its own sources that the land exchange registration had happened on November 11th, and having neither been informed about the exact nature of the exchanges nor about the permission of the Governing Board, as the minutes of the 63rd and any subsequent meetings of the Board have not been shared with the residents, had raised concerns about the exchanges: that The Mother had sanctioned the purchase of this land in 1965; that the deal had been concluded in secrecy and that there was no subsequent information from the office of the Auroville Foundation. The RA-WCom also questioned the financial proprieties of the exchange and wrote that it would appeal to higher authorities to reverse the land exchange.

A resident of Auro Orchard has meanwhile issued his disagreement with the term ‘unutilized land’, and pointed out that many fruit bearing trees have been planted on the lands that have now been exchanged. He also stated that the land to be exchanged included the central borewell of Auro Orchard and irrigation junction, which “forms the heart of the farm as all the water gets directed from here”.