At Auroville, "Model City For Unity", Road Project Triggers Clash

A section of Auroville residents are protesting against a road project, named Crown Project, saying it cuts through a forested area

Tempers are running high at the tranquil enclave of Auroville in Puducherry where a group of residents are protesting against the administration's plans to build a road envisaged by Auroville founder Mirra Alfassa.

The 4-km inner ring road would connect all four zones of the model city. However, a section of residents says the road plan, named the Crown Project, cuts through a forested area called Bliss and Youth Centre. They are demanding that the plan be slightly altered keeping ecological concerns in mind.

In the latest flare-up, workers from nearby villages, who had been engaged by the administration to help in the project, allegedly roughed up a section of residents, including women. The residents allege they were attacked when they tried to stop an earth mover brought to clear the Youth Centre.

Divya, a resident, has sent a representation to Auroville Foundation, which runs Auroville. "Today, I climbed on top of the JCB which was working at the Youth Centre and asked the driver to stop the machine. The driver was scared, he would have stopped. But 20 goondas surrounding the JCB lifted me off and carried me away. Of course, in the process I got hurt physically, but that is not the point."