A number of assets have been built over the years in areas that are deemed reserved for other purposes as per the Master Plan. In many cases, the constructions pre-date the plan and were unintentionally built in areas that may interfere with elements of the City. During the pionneers years settlements were made progressively when pieces of land were acquired. Aurovilians installing their settlements on these lands were doing it to take care of it by reforesting and protecting the land. Also over the years different plans have been made, the last one used by the liggaly appointed Town Planning is different in several points.
No Detailed Development Plan has been yet established, the Secretary has illegaly appointed members of the Town Developement Planning bypassing all Auroville processes and has forced destruction of buildings. They considered that the Master Plan gazetted in 1999 serves as a developement plan which is going against planning principles, against the very content of the Master Plan, the decisions of the Residents Assembly and the Auroville Foundation Act. The master Plan is a document that has been ratified by the Residents in order to protect the land of Auroville and specifies that a planning and developpement plan has to be made and approved by the Residents Assembly. To understand more about the Master Plan please see section on Master Plan on this website. https://standforaurovilleunity.com/master-plan/
As no dialogues have been possible so far with the Secretary and the Governing Board who doesnt recognize the residents Assembly and the working groups, different court cases are currently taking place. Nevertheless the Secretary is still going on with destructions of forest, buildings, houses and roads.
For a complete overview of assets that are considered to be out of line with the Master Plan, see the map below
The illegaly appointed ATDC has announced the formation of a ‘resettlement group’ . This group is allegedly created to facilitate moving residents from ‘red assets’ to another place. Their communication claims that most assets in question are “store rooms etc”. However, the map shows that at least a dozen houses, many housing families, are also in line to be demolished.
Any actions taken now are done in spite of the fact that no Detailed Development Plans have been made or Environmental Clearance sought, as per the NGT order.