Outer Ring Road

According to a report in the Times of India, on 22 October residents of Kuilapalayam and Edayanchavadi villages objected to the Foundation’s decision to cut large trees along the highway connecting the two villages.

On 20 March, the Ministry of Education, responding to two Right to Information requests dated 25 and 26 February, sent the applicant a copy of the Minutes of the 68th Meeting of the Governing Board (GB) of the Auroville Foundation held on 5 December 2024, which have since been widely distributed in Auroville.

The National Green Tribunal verdict and appeal The Auroville Universal Township Master Plan (Perspective 2025) is a perspective and directional document that was approved in 2001 by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) – now Ministry of Education (MoE) – and published by the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation in the Gazette of India in 2010.

The construction of the Crown Road, ORR and various radials is running into problems as a number of private, temple or Poramboke (government) lands, which are necessary to complete the envisioned urban plan, have not yet been purchased.

On 29 January, a member of the Auroville Town Development Council constituted by the Governing Board (GB-ATDC) verbally informed community members that it now “had permission to increase the Outer Ring Road (ORR) to 30 meters wide”.

The Auroville Town Development Council constituted by the Governing Board (ATDC) informed the community through a mass bulletin on 25 December 2024 that Auroville is currently implementing its road network, which comprises the Crown, Radial Roads, and the Outer Ring Road, and that, consequently, all Red Assets connected to this project, i.e. structures located on the road or on the rights-of-way, will need to be demolished.

Prashant Hedao was the Regional Planning Coordinator of L’Avenir d’Auroville, Auroville’s Town Planning Department, from 2007-2010. In those years he worked closely together with then Governing Board member Dr BV Doshi on the Auroville Master Plan.

A 6 metre wide road has been cleared through Auroville’s Northern Forest Area (NFA), in order to gain access to the area that has been earmarked for a 30 meter tall hill to be built from the soil excavated from the Matrimandir Lake.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD), in its E-Tender Portal, stated that in the period from June 2022 to June 2024 an amount of almost Rs 60 crores (approximately US$ 7.3 million) has been allocated for 50 different civil works in Auroville.

In February, the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture hosted a double exhibition: Bhavyo’s paintings of the icy peaks of the Himalayan Tosh valley were displayed in its main room, while a number of urban design studies of his twin sister Bhavya were hung around the courtyard.

From the website it became known that the Auroville Foundation Office has invited many tenders for carrying out various works. Amongst them are: doing a digital topographical survey for the area beyond the Outer Ring Road up to the Green Belt region and a complete layout for Auroville from the centre to the Green Belt; a tender for the execution of the balance portion of the Crown Road, including the provision of led street lighting; a tender for the construction of the Darkali bridge at the Crown Road; a tender for the construction of the Outer Ring Road from the secondary service node to the Visitor’s Centre Parking, including led street lighting; and the demarcation of service nodes and proposed building location as per layout.

February is the time when we celebrate Mother’s birthday and the birthday of Auroville, as well as, this year, the ‘Golden Day’, and we enjoy a plethora of events and inaugurations.

This statement, issues on 4th January 2024, is issued in response to the indiscriminate feeling of numerous trees apparently for road construction, currently taking place in Auroville.

The RA TDC is continuing to document and report on instances of tree cutting across Auroville. Their report of 7th September 2023 shows that at least 378 trees have been cut on the proposed Crown and Outer Ring Road trajectories since the NGT judgment of April 2022.

A number of assets have been built over the years in areas that are deemed reserved for other purposes according to the Master Plan. These areas include the Crown and the Outer Ring Road.

In a well-attended meeting of the Residents' Assembly (RA) held on January 2nd, a proposed decision to be made by the RA (RAD) was formulated:

Cristo was the Coordinator of the Auroville Universal Township Integrated Master Plan 1999, the first Auroville Master Plan, which was approved by the community.

Members of the Forest Group and many others Aurovilians are objecting to the partial clearing of the existing forests to allow for so-called Rights of Ways (RoWs) – three-metres wide stretches of open land to lay High Tension and other cables – along the proposed Crown road, the proposed Outer Ring Road and the proposed Radials, as has recently been advised by the Acting Secretary of the Auroville Foundation to the Town Development Council (TDC).