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○ What planning guidelines and analysis was used to determine that it is

necessary to rip up the fully functional existing paver block road and raise it by

6” (15 cms) and also to widen it? Was there traffic congestion reported there

that requires the road to be widened? Were any tests done on the blocks to

show their aging or need for replacement? Note that 2 JCBs can pass each

other on this road. And there is no water logging reported there that requires

the road level to be raised.

○ Talking about raising this road’s level by 6” (15 cms) we would like to know

what are the new proposed levels of the radial road. The level difference at

Crown road junction is about 6 meters higher than where this radial meets the

outer ring road. How will this level difference be negotiated? What are

intermediate levels on this road and how do they relate to the plinth levels of

the buildings and communities on the sides of this road? This is important for

the surface water runoff and its management in this area. Will this water

eventually drain out into Sukhavati-Samriddhi canyon or will be pumped back

to the centre for the Martrimandir Lake, as was stated by Jaya on site?

Other road related points and questions:

● Since we are on the topic of roads could we also get a clarification on why the Crown

Road, which is largely for pedestrian and light traffic use, is built with heavy

concrete whereas the Outer Ring Road is being built using paver blocks? It has

been stated as well as frequently announced, that closer to the centre the city would

be pedestrian in nature with light electric vehicles whereas the motorized vehicles

would be restricted to the periphery which is the outer ring road. And therefore

logically it should have been the other way round - Crown Road built with paver

blocks and Outer Ring Road in concrete, and the larger question is whether

concrete should be used at all since it is not a sustainable material.

● And finally, while building/rebuilding these roads, including the Crown Road, why has

building the cycle paths and pedestrian sidewalks not been prioritized?

Currently people are forced to walk on the concrete road, while protecting themselves

from high speed motorized traffic and radiating heat from the concrete surface which

has increased now because the shade trees that had been planted along these roads

more than 20 years ago were cut down for highly questionable reasons. There are no

markings on the road where pedestrians could cross the road at junctions and there

are no other safety features put in place.

● If we are really aspiring to build a pedestrian friendly inner city, it must be a priority to

put appropriate infrastructure in place and mechanisms to reduce the motorized

traffic speed and radiating heat from the concrete surfaces that are responsible

for urban heat island (ULI) effects in an increasing number of cities around the

world. And this is getting worse with higher temperatures every year, due to climate

change.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

for Concerned Residents

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Prashant Hedao, PhD

Landscape Architect | Regional Planner | Geographer

Certitude, AUROVILLE

Tel: +91-9443409201

________________________

Consultant, WHO (HQ) GIS Centre for Health

Visiting Faculty, Department of Human Ecology | Landscape Architecture, University of

California at Davis

-------------------

From: Avinash Ravi Raghavan <aviragh@auroville.org.in>

Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2024 at 14:14

Subject: Re: [avenir forwarding] Re: Work at radial - Request for access and update

To: Communication Avenir . <communication-avenir@auroville.org.in>

Cc: ATDC Auroville Town Development Council <avenir@auroville.org.in>, Candassamy N

<candassamy_avf@auroville.org.in>, <Vignesh.mani@gov.in>, Rajesh Shah

<shahrv@gmail.com>, Eric Vibrance <eric.courage@gmail.com>

Dear Jaya, Prasad, Candasammy Sir and Er Vignesh,

Thank you very much for meeting the different community members on Tuesday to set a way

forward. We thought it best to share our notes from this meeting so that we can all be clear and

on the same page. Please do go through and let us know if there are any differences in our

understanding.

Those present -

Jaya, Prasad, Govind (For TDC), Candasammy Sir (Senior Engineer - Auroville Foundation),

Vignesh (Engineer - CPWD), Ganesh (Contractor)

Avinash, Carla, Eric, Ladina, Rajesh (Vibrance), Lisbeth (Madhuca), Naradi (Arati), Isha

(Swayam), Arun (Revelation), Prashant, Rosa and Akira

Outcomes -

● A list of concerns by the communities will be shared and the Avenir communications

team will address these.

● TDC is ready to work with a small team of the residents and will answer community

questions through them. The residents have nominated Avinash, Eric and Rajesh to

represent them.

● The TDC communication team (Jaya and Prasad) acknowledged the lapses in informing

residents about the implementation and the difficulties this caused to the impacted

communities and committed to avoiding this going forward. The TDC communication

team will ensure proper communication to the involved communities about all present

and future work related matters.