'Months After Auroville Protest, We, Foreigners, Feel Intimidated Here'

Video Producer: Maaz Hasan
Video Editor: Prashant Chauhan

Auroville, a bioregion in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district, aspires to be a global town where people from all over the world live in peace and realise the idea of human unity.

But, in the past few months, this idea seems to have taken a back seat and aggression has taken over.

On 9 December 2021, a protest broke out in Auroville against the construction of crown road, which is a part of Auroville's master developmental plan. Aurovillians protested because they were against deforestation for road construction and the matter is now being heard at the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Many of us, foreigners, have been living and contributing to the region for over 20 years. Now we are being made to look like a group of foreign nationals protesting against the government. This is a distorted truth.

"Complaints have been made against Aurovillians, who are foreign nationals, with the immigration officer. The complaint claimed that there was a violent protest. It was a peaceful protest. And we are being accused of protesting against the government which is not the case. This is an internal community issue and it is an issue about development that is decided within the community by the residents. We are all grateful to be living in India. We consider it our home."

Foreign National

We are also being intimidated with police actions, unnecessary interrogations, and delays in the signing of recommendation letters for visas.

There are a few foreigners whose visas have expired, the renewal of which can be done after they receive a signed letter of recommendation by the secretary of Auroville, Jayanti S Ravi.

There seems to be an intentional delay in processing the recommendation letters, which will result in paying very heavy fees for living in India on expired visas and in extreme condition they might be deported.

"It seems that the actions of the secretary are rather vindictive and she uses whatever intimidation tactics she can. Auroville, over many years, achieved a kind of understanding with the government that we have an entry visa. So we have a five-year visa which the secretary is supposed to endorse. This she has been withholding. She has been in dereliction of her duties and has withheld these visas or is not signing them in a timely manner."

Foreign National

Any late visa amounts to a fine of Rs 15,000. When you live in Auroville, you do not make any money, and you have no private property. So who is going to compensate us for all these delays?

It's going to be troublesome to have an international township with these kinds of threats and shenanigans. A certain amount of confidence in the ability to stay here is required for us to have a healthy community.

We wish that instead of trying to intimidate people who have a difference of opinion, embrace the diversity in opinions, which is one of the main goals of Auroville, to explore and embrace the idea of diversity. So we hope that some collaboration can come out of it.

The Quint has reached out to the secretary Jayanti S Ravi on the issue raised. Her response is awaited. The story will be updated once we have a response.

(All 'My Report' branded stories are submitted by citizen journalists to The Quint. Though The Quint inquires into the claims/allegations from all parties before publishing, the report and the views expressed above are the citizen journalist's own. The Quint neither endorses, nor is responsible for the same.)