Issue Nº427 – News in brief

The Auroville Foundation Office (AVFO) continues to enter into institutional agreements without consulting or informing the Residents' Assembly (RA). At least 14 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed since January 2022. They are: with the University of Pondicherry (January 2022); with the Central Public Works Department (March 2022); with the IIT Madras (2023); with the Indira Ghandi National Centre for the Arts (February 2024); with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (May 2024); with the Department of Art & Culture, Pondicherry (July 2024); and with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (September 2024).

As per a press release by Auroville Media Interface (formerly Outreach Media), during the recent visit from the Auroville Foundation to Gujarat led by Dr Jayanthi Ravi and 3 unnamed members of the Governing Board, MoUs were signed with: The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara; with the Kamdhenu University, Gandhinagar; with the Indus University; with the Auro University, Surat; with the Sardar Patel University; with the Revenue Department, Gujarat; and with the Nehru Foundation Development Centre for Environment Education Society.

These MoUs remain invisible and inaccessible to the residents of Auroville. Despite multiple Right to Information (RTI) requests filed by residents, the contents of these MoUs remain undisclosed. Information about these agreements only reached the residents through social media postings and newspaper reports.

On January 10, the members of L’Avenir d’Auroville, the Town Planning Council appointed by the Residents’ Assembly (RA-TDC), informed the community that it had sent a letter to high government officials addressing critical concerns about ongoing developments in the Auroville project area. The concerns are that the agreement between the Auroville Foundation and the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) of the Government of India for the building of 11 radials roads lacks formal approval from planning authorities and from the Residents’ Assembly; that there is no financial transparency and no clarity on funding sources or expenditure; that projects such as the Matrimandir Lake and the demolishing of part of the Vikas Radial have proceeded without Detailed Development Plans (DDPs) or Environmental Impact Assessments, causing environmental damage, safety hazards, and community disruption; that these developments continue despite strong objections from the RA; and that the absence of participatory processes undermines Auroville’s collaborative values. The authorities have been urged to halt all ongoing and planned projects until these issues are resolved.

The membership of the Working Committee approved by the Governing Board (GB-WCom) continues to be questioned. An email from the GB-WCom dated January 2, 2025, welcoming Newcomers and Volunteers and inviting them to weekly sessions on “Auroville the Dream”, was signed by six ‘members’, including one member who had publicly announced her resignation a few months ago. The same member introduced herself as a member of the Working Committee during the Special Talk on Good Practices at Auroville, held in Gujarat on January 3, 2025. It has been stated that the term of office of all members of the GB-WCom had in fact ended on January 2024.

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. The total cost of all of the road works that have been tendered by CPWD, according to the government E-Tenders portal, is ₹38 crores ($4.5 million US dollars), with an additional ₹7.6 crores being spent on electrical works. These figures are CPWD estimates, so final costs could be higher or lower.

Large areas of forest have been cleared and as of July 2024 the number of mature trees felled so far is over 6,560, of which more than half had a girth of over 1 metre. Additionally, more than 7,330 trees under 15 cm in girth, and more than 20,860 woody plants from the under storey have been cleared since December 2023. These are only the trees that have been surveyed and counted. Due to the sheer amount of clearing and tree felling taking place, not all tree felling and clearing has been documented. The RA-DC recently wrote a letter to the GB-ATDC with details about how the extensive deforestation in areas such as Darkali and Bliss have led to a substantial increase in surface runoff which “culminated in the breach of the Alankuppam-Kottakarai pond bund, which caused flooding in the downstream villages”.

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.

The report indicates that while the initial plan called for a bridge spanning approximately 25 meters to cross a water body, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) is now constructing a 160-meter-long structure. The excavation width reaches up to 25 meters in some areas, significantly exceeding the 9.1-meter limit recommended by the Joint Committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal.

Key findings from the report include that the construction has destroyed existing rainwater harvesting systems that previously collected approximately 3 million litres of water annually and that no drainage systems have been planned for managing water flow in an area that handles 60% of rainfall within the Crown. The project cost has increased from an initial estimate of ₹50 lakhs to approximately ₹500 lakhs. The report states that inadequate materials have been used and that the CPWD has failed to follow proper construction standards. The construction continues despite these issues and apparent violations of recommendations of the Joint Committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal Southern Bench regarding road width and environmental protection measures.

The GB-FAMC has recently halted the transfer of some donations received by Auroville to the beneficiaries, in some cases stating that “there are few concerns that should be clarified with you, based on proven feedback.” Donors are advised to ask the project executives to obtain prior permission from the GB-FAMC for their project before making a donation to it.

Following a court ruling of the Tindivanam court on October 25th, the disputed land area bordering Evergreen community which had been in Auroville's peaceful possession for over 32 years has now been cleared of all vegetation. The RA-WCom informed the community that it had written to both the Governing Board and the Ministry of Education regarding this urgent matter, requesting the immediate filing of an appeal against the ruling. This was followed by a letter of a group of 7 Aurovilians urging the GB and its Secretary to file an appeal. 

The Auroville Farm Group reported that the Gratitude experimental Demo Farm project, launched in October 2022 by the GB-FAMC as a two-year initiative to develop natural precision farming methods in Auroville, for which half an acre was set apart and which was developed by a few non-Aurovilians with a subsidy from the Auroville Foundation of 4.75 lakhs [see AVToday # 399 of October 2022], has been abruptly terminated after 1.5 years and that its half-acre of land was handed back to the GB-FAMC. The project had committed to providing training in Natural Precision Farming as per the MoU with the Auroville Foundation, and so benefit Auroville farming through knowledge sharing, but these benefits have not materialised. The Farm group also stated that there have been significant discrepancies between actual and projected crop yields. A letter from the Farm Group to the GB-FAMC requesting explanations has remained unanswered.