Auroville, in southern India, is small international and utopian city, founded in 1968 near Pondicherry, and sponsored by Unesco. Last December, the secretary of the Auroville foundation, newly appointed by the federal government to take care of the city’s co-management, ordered the demolition of several public buildings and the felling of many trees to build roads through the city. . This, he said, was intended to accelerate the realization of the city plan, which the founder of Auroville drew up 50 years ago.
The bulldozers came suddenly, but hundreds of residents united against this decision, they said it was arbitrary. The resistance lasted for days, but the bulldozers finally forced their way in and destroyed this entire section of the majestic Auroville forest.
The management of Auroville is unique: the act of the Indian parliament forms the collective administration of the city, and decisions are taken by agreement between the foundation and various resident assemblies. This is one of the democratic ideals of Auroville, which has attracted intellectuals from all over the world and given rise to innovative projects of collective life. But the foundation’s new secretary believes he has the power to impose his views. Regional appeals courts ruled in favor of residents and overturned some secretarial decisions, and environmental courts suspended some landscaping projects, but civil servants appealed these decisions each time.
The confrontation continues. The new management claims to want to expand the city, and double its population to five in three years. Thus literally continuing the initial development plan. But such a rapid expansion of real estate is not only difficult to absorb, it will radically change the spirit of Auroville, making it, feared by residents, a humble spiritual and ecological tourist spot, and no longer a space of innovation. and ecological
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