PondyCAN - Pondy Citizen's Action Network

On 3rd November, Dr Ravichandran, Secretary of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Govt of India, visited Auroville along with Dr Ramanamurthy, Director of National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), to discuss the restoration of the eroded coast.

Twenty years ago, generations of Aurovilians enjoyed the beaches and the sea. Now almost all the beaches and many Auroville houses have disappeared.

An important meeting in terms of planning for the larger bioregion took place on 11th September in Pondicherry. Hosted by Citizen’s Action Network, PondyCAN and the Puducherry Planning Authority, with participation of civil society from all the sub-regions, the consultation meeting was also addressed by Lt.

Looking at some of the old issues of Auroville Today, it’s fascinating to see how some of the articles could have been written just last week.

Aurofilio is a member of PondyCAN, a citizen’s action network located in Pondicherry. He has been very much involved with promoting the Pondicherry Beach Restoration scheme, which is now underway to restore the town’s beach.

Beach erosion has very badly affected some of our beach communities for the past decade. In Auroville Today we have reported a number of times on the problem as well as on proposals to solve or mitigate it, but so far, apart from research, very little has been done on the ground.

On 20th November, The Hindu newspaper reported that an initiative had been launched to make Puducherry and Auroville the world’s first ‘Fair Trade Twin Towns’.

The bioregion was defined as Pondicherry, Auroville, and the surrounding districts of Villupuram and Cuddalore (PAVC), an area of 2500 sq. kilometres that constitutes a distinct ecological bioregion along the Coromandel Coast.

The story of the Tsunamika doll is well-known to Aurovilians and friends of Auroville. The Tsunamika came from Auroville’s Upasana design and garment unit when the people involved felt moved to help alleviate the tragedy of the December 2004 tsunami.