Afsanah Guest House

On 16 October, a group of 15 people came to Afsanah Guest House, including executives of the Auroville Security Services appointed by the AVFO and broke open the doors of the office, the dining room and Room 7. Computers and documents were removed. The guest house team members were prevented from collecting their personal belongings, which were not returned to them. The team thanked those who had supported them during the past two years of, as they put it, repeated attempts to forcefully takeover the Guest House “without following due process or principles of natural justice”.

However, a member of the FO FAMC stated this was a “lawful repossession of Neeraja Guest House, formally known as Afsanah Guest House, by Auroville Foundation Auroville”. And that despite repeated directives and formal notices, two individuals had refused to hand over the keys of the Afsanah Guest House and had continued to occupy and operate the premises without authorisation. He also alleged that over the past years the guest house has been “grossly mismanaged”, an allegation the replaced team said is “simply untrue”, listing all the improvements they had made over the previous three years.