Auroville residents want more meaningful role in its present and future

A section of Auroville residents have called for greater transparency in adhering to the Auroville Foundation Act, 1988, and in major decisions affecting the international township’s land, ecology, residents, and its future.

Interacting with visitors and the media during an exhibition titled “Auroville: An Experiment Under Threat” here on Saturday, residents said they were trying to get national and international support for their cause. “We want meaningful participation of residents in decisions affecting the community we we have built over the last 60 years,” a resident said.

Several actors, politicians and activists, including Piyush Manush, Vetrimaaran, Andrea Jeremiah, and Americai V. Narayanan, visited the exhibition.

Arun Ambathy, who has been involved with Auroville since 2018 and runs several social enterprises, said the development paradigm being imposed through the Central Public Works Department was against Auroville’s ideals. He cited the use of heavy cement concrete for laying roads and construction activities undertaken without offsetting measures. The present administration is detrimental to the people of the surrounding villages, he said.

“We call upon the Tamil Nadu government to enforce the rule of law in matters related to land administration and law and order,” he added.

Planner and geographer Prashant Hedao said there was an urgent need for recognising the Residents’ Assembly and involving them in decision-making. “Even if the government’s presence may be greater than before, residents must have a say [in matters related to Auroville]. Just five years ago, the Residents’ Assembly was very much involved in what was going on in the township. Though people of all nationalities were residents, there was a strong sense of community. Now we are a fractured community. People are afraid to speak to one another, or just keep quiet.” he said.

Mr. Manush, an activist, said large-scale environmental destruction took place in the name of development. He added that several cases had been filed with the police in matters pertaining to land exchanges. 

‘Several allegations’

Sindhuja Jagadeesh, member of Auroville Town Development Council, said the recent criticism of Auroville’s development trajectory raised several allegations. While a healthy debate is welcome, it is equally important that public discussion be grounded in facts rather than narratives detached from the legal, administrative, and developmental realities of Auroville, she said.

Ms. Jagadeesh said residents continued to participate in Auroville’s functioning through working groups, project teams, community initiatives, and consultative processes.

The land exchanges undertaken by Auroville Foundation were challenged before various courts, including the Supreme Court. The challenges failed at every level. The exchanges were land for land and there was no monetary transaction. Hence, allegations of loss, already examined and dismissed by the courts, are speculative and deserve to be put to rest, she said.

Anuradha Majumdar, member of the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly, said many of the roads being constructed were part of the statutory Master Plan and designed to provide durable connectivity. Auroville is in the construction phase, and will be so for the next few years, as it works towards its goal of manifesting the Galaxy Plan. Therefore, sturdy roads are not optional but a necessity, she said.

On trees being cut, Ms. Majumdar said the actual figure was closer to 4,000 full-grown trees out of the 3 million already planted. Some of them did not have the minimum girth size to be classified as trees.

These works were carried out in pursuit of the Master Plan that has now been upheld by the Supreme Court, she said.