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Report meeting - ATDC & MM team & Michael B- Lake shoreline + Hill

25-07-2024

Venue: ATDC (second floor), ACUR Building

Date and Time: 25-07-2024, 15:00 - 15:45

Present: ATDC team: Antim, Jaya, Joel, Prasad, Sindhuja

Matrimandir team: Antoine, Divya, Himal, John, Judith, Selvam, Sundar

Lake team: Arjun, Michael B, Rohan

Follow up on action-points of previous meeting 09/07/2024

1. ATDC has sent an email to CPWD to request the marking of the northern shoreline. One

more follow up will be done soon and ATDC will update MM.

2. ATDC has met Meenakshi Madam (AVF land officer), about the status of the acquisition

of the recently fenced piece of land on the western side. The negotiations are underway.

3. For CIRHU alignment, Pino can be invited to a separate meeting.

4. Selvam MM will show Sathish (ATDC Planning) the trees to be cleared in the dug out

portions of the Lake, after this a formal request from ATDC will be sent to DS IFS Office

to activate the tree clearing as per protocol.

5. For the MM Service Building, the ground markings were already done by CPWD, in the

portions not within the current soil storage area. Sathish will show the markings with

CPWD to Selvam of MM immediately after this meeting.

1/ Design and engineering of the dam of the Lake near Town Hall and on the Western

edge

1. The difference in height between the northern shoreline and the Town Hall floor buildings

will reach a maximum of 1,3 meter on a 30-meter slope, the slope is 3%, so there is no

issue of soil washing away even if the Lake overflows. The engineering design will be

very simple.

2. As the Lake Promenade also needs to be designed along the shoreline, how this

interacts with the landscape design of the Administrative Area buildings etc has to be

studied and a proposal madre by an architect, together with the LGA engineering team.

Matrimandir and Michael Bonke will work together to find an architect to design the strip

and LGA will provide the structural/ engineering details in consultation with Harald Kraft

wherever required.

3. Since the Lake will maintain a uniform shore height along its circumference, on the west

there will be a substantial difference in topography between the Lake border and the

surrounding land. Also the level difference between the Crown on the west and the Lake

is up to 12 meters. It is agreed that the appointed architect and engineering team will

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have to fix the final finished levels to which the plinth levels of the buildings in the

Administrative Area will be adjusted. (i.e. the plinth of the AA buildings will gradually be

higher and higher from NGL so that to keep the same ratio of level difference between

the finished shoreline/ promenade and the plinth of all the AA buildings).

4. The ATDC will prepare a cross section of the entire city center upto the Crown on the

west, showing that the plinth of the buildings in the belts further away from the Lake (i.e.

the Habitat Belt, the Vocational Training Belt, and finally the Crown buildings) will be

lower and lower until it corresponds to the finished level of the Crown road. The water

run-off from the shoreline to the Crown shall be managed in between the buildings of

each of these Belts so that percolation is ensured in the Parks and Gardens between

each of these Belts, already part of the Zonal Development Plans.

5. The proposal of dumping of the earth on the Western shoreline of the Lake to increase

the height of land there and to stabilize the soil should not be done now, but rather as a

part of the building of the entire Lake shoreline and the Promenade.

2/ Crown water collection and pumping into the Lake shorelines

1. There has now been designed two collection ponds that will collect the water from the

stretch of the Crown which will go from Solar Kitchen to Savitri Bhavan. One of these

ponds is on an existing Kuttai Poramboke (natural collection area) and the other will be

an Auroville made lined pond, where the water will be finally filtered before being

pumped into the Lake on the southern side.

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3/ Storing the excavated soil and the Hill

1. The Hill has been an intrinsic part of the Auroville project as part of the water

management system for several decades. The concept of the hill has been there since

Auroville’s inception, for which the Mother had given specific guidelines.

2. A location for this Hill has been contemplated between the MM team, M. Bonke and the

ATDC since 2012 in the north-eastern part of the Green Belt. Due to lack of enough

lands owned by Auroville, a precise location had not been defined.

3. Now with the combined land purchase efforts of AVF and Varuna enough lands are

available for the location to be finalized and a land parcel to be released as a starting

point of the dumping of soil.

4. The tentative hill location, size and shape shall be as finalized in the map attached below

subject to adjustments based on detailed study and final technical drawings. The land

carrying the survey number MA 300/2 near Fertile Field is finalized as the first of the

parcels where the excavated soil will be dumped to start with. The MM Lake team will

start shifting the soil taking care of the required modalities.

5. The access to this land, via parcels MA 302/1, MA 301/2 & MA 301/5 belonging to

Auroville, shall be undertaken by the MM Lake team. Further, the lands carrying the

survey numbers MA 312/1A, MA 313/ C2, MA 312/B and MA 312/2 shall also be used

for the purpose of the Hill as and when more earth is available for shifting.

6. Fencing of the entire hill area shall be undertaken by the MM Lake team when the entire

land required for the hill is secured.

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4/ Traffic to use the road behind the Town Hall rather than the temporary track

- Once the Crown is finished, the traffic will be able to find a way through Mangalam radial. The

conversation is postponed to when the Crown is finished.

5/ Reception Pavilion and the bridge

1. The Reception Pavilion protrudes into the Lake as per Roger's drawings

2. Jacqueline has given all the sketches to MM; Judith will continue to search for and

produce the design brief for the Reception Pavilion developed in 2016 during the LoG

study, and will send it to ATDC next week, with what she has already found + 2

additional sketches already available.

3. A meeting will be called to discuss the final shape and location of the Reception building

to which Jacqueline will be invited, who can help to date the different drawings of Roger.

Point raised by Michael

1. Instead of a second bridge, an easily dismantable ponton/ferry could bring the rare

needed heavy vehicles.

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Point raised by Judith

1. One bridge is not enough; the Service Building is located in the north-east, whose

architectural design drawings are almost ready. Daily access from this building to MM

will be required.

2. A decision needs to be made about the second bridge. Jacqueline shall be invited to

participate the discussion which shall be part of the meeting regarding the Reception

Pavilion.

Action-points

1. For CIRHU, Pino will be invited to a separate meeting.

2. Matrimandir team & Michael B. will select an architect and engineering team to design

the Northern and the Western Lake strip as described in the notes.

3. The Crown implementation team will take care of the collected water from the stretch of

the Crown going from Solar Kitchen to Darkali and of the 2 ponds, the purification of the

water and the pumping of the water into the Lake.

4. ATDC Planning will work out the plinth level between the Crown on the west and the

Lake and all in between.

5. The Lake team will start shifting the soil to MA 300/2, taking care of making an access

road through the survey numbers mentioned in the notes.

6. Judith will share all additional sketches and information about the Reception Pavilion.

7. A meeting will be organized regarding the Reception Pavilion and the bridge by ATDC

Planning, to which the MM Lake team and Jacqueline will be invited.

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