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AFSANAH GUEST HOUSE
Auroville
05.09.2024
RECENT HISTORY OF EVENTS
01.07.2022
Auradha Markus was appointed as interim executive by the RA FAMC for a six-month
period which was later extended by an additional six months. In October 2022 Shiraz
Panthaky was appointed as interim executive by the RA FAMC, he resigned on
01.11.23. Rosy Shankar joined in September 2022 and Enrica Cerchi joined (part time)
in May 2023.
11.08.2022
The GB FAMC appoints Auradha Markus as Executive, FAMC Resolution 677 for a two- month period (11.08.2022 – 11.10.2022) This appointment was never officially extended,
and was only terminated in FAMC Resolution 926 dated 27.08.2024. See attached FAMC
Resolution. Therefore, Auradha Markus was an official executive of Afsanah Guest
House from 11.08.2022 until 27.08.2024
11.11.23
We (Rosy, Enrica, Auradha) wrote to the FO FAMC and the GH trustees, requesting to
be officially appointed as Executives. We never received a response to our email despite
sending multiple further reminders.
25.01.2024
We received a loan request for Rs. 4.33 lakhs from Selvam for Abundance Guest
House. This loan request was refused based on the CoC guidelines.
01.04.24
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After two years of employing Shankar (who is also the GH Trust accountant) as the
Afsanah Guest House personal accountant, we decided to change to another
accountant and employed Subu (Bhadra Associates).
24.06.24
Without explanation or prior notice all guest payments from the Guest House Trust
Financial Service account to the Advance account of Afsanah GH were blocked. Over
the next few weeks, a total amount of over Rs. 8 lakhs accumulated, which was being
withheld by the Trustees.
Neither the GH trust accountant nor the trustees responded to our repeated email,
phone and message requests for an explanation of their actions.
10.07.24
The GH Trustees release approximately 3 lakh rupees of the withheld guest payments.
15.07.24
We received the following message from the Trustees, in which they say:
“Your tenure as interim executive of Afsanaha guest house has expired. Trustees have
decided to hold the transfers from trust account to Afsanah FS account for the time
being and made sure there's surplus funds in the FS collection and expenses accounts
for smooth operation’’
Yet, according to FAMC Resolution 926 Auradha Markus was an executive until
27.08.24
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22.08.24
We hear through rumors circulating within the community, that the GB FAMC together
with the Trustees, has appointed 3 new executives for Afsanah Guest House. The
Afsanah GH team was not informed of this decision by the GB FAMC and the Trustees.
Rosy and Auradha directly went to the GB FAMC office and spoke with Chandresh, who
was unable to answer any questions. We did not receive any communication from the
FAMC informing us of this decision.
27.08.24
The GB FAMC instruct the Financial Service team to freeze all accounts of Afsanah
Guest House, despite the guest house being fully functional with guests checking in and
out on a daily basis. The Afsanah GH team does not receive any communication or
explanation.
The GB FAMC writes to the Afsanah Guest House team that they will come for a site
visit on 29.08.24
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29.08.2024
During the site visit we requested the GB FAMC members and trustees to send in
writing, the reason for our (Rosy, Enrica and Auradha) dismissal and an explanation of
the process that was followed according to the CoC, as well as the required documents
including the FAMC Resolution, Trust Resolution and the Office Order.
31.08.2024
We receive an email from the GB FAMC, which does not adequately respond to our
request for the reason of our dismissal, nor does it give any explanation of the process
that was followed according to the CoC. This email also fails to provide the required
documents: FAMC Resolution, Trust Resolution and Office Order. Please also see the
PDF attachment.
We receive a forwarded email from our accountant, Bhadra Associates, written by the
GH Trustees.
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The GH Trustees write to Financial Service
01.09.24
We reply to the FAMC letter dated 31.08.24
02.09.2024
One Guest House Trustee and two of the newly appointed executives came to Afsanah
GH with the intention to take over daily operation directly. They presented the GB FAMC
Resolution number 926 and a print out of the FAMC letter dated 31.08.24. A long
discussion about community processes ensued and it was agreed that they would come
back once they had all the required documents.
04.09.24 – The GH Trustees fail to pay the staff salary on time
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04.09.24
The Guest House email account (afsanah_gh@auroville.org.in) has been blocked
without prior notice or explanation, bringing an end to all communication between the
GH and Auroville email addresses (i.e. all working groups). The GH Gmail id is also
blocked from writing to any Auroville email account. The person in charge of the
auroville.org.in domain at the foundation office informs us that the GB FAMC instructed
him to immediately block the email account.
We write to the GB FAMC to point out that the Trustees have misinterpreted the FAMC
instruction regarding the GH accounts.
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05.09.24
We receive the following email from the GB FAMC
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Comments:
1. The FAMC’s email dated August 27.08.24, explicitly instructs and authorizes the GH
Trustees to pay staff salaries only:
“Since we are very close to the month end, the Trustees may operate the account/s for
staff payments only”
However, it seems that the Trustees have misinterpret this instruction and have
incorrectly informed the Financial Service that they have full access to GH accounts:
“The GH Trustees will go through and give the final approval for the NEFT transfer till
then could you please wait. GHT Trustees has the full access on Afsanah GH FS
account”
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2. The caretaker House of Afsanah GH has been occupied by the previous executive
Baskar who was dismissed in late 2021, we have repeatedly raised this issue with the
Housing Service, GH Trustees and FAMC. We have not received any response on this
Issue
3. We have been pressured, by the GH Trustees to sign the 2023 -2024 Balance Sheet,
despite having been told that we were unqualified to sign the previous two years
Balance Sheets as we were not officially appointed executives.
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Financial Overview:
Financial Year 2022 - 2023
Total income Rs.114 lakhs, an increase of over 100% in comparison to the previous financial
year income of Rs.53.8 lakhs. The Guest House has contributed a total of Rs.15.9 lakhs to
Auroville’s City Services budget. The excess of income has increased by 25 times from Rs.1.4
lakhs to Rs.24.9 lakhs.
Financial Year 2023 - 2024
The total income was Rs.143 lakhs, an increase of 33% in comparison to the previous FY, from
Rs.114 lakhs to Rs.143 lakhs. A total of Rs. 27 lakhs were contributed to City Services.
Warm regards, Rosy, Auradha and Enrica