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Perhaps the Working Committee did not feel entirely comfortable going ahead on
such a course of elimination without some wider formal support; perhaps they were
advised by the Chairman that precautions must be taken to ensure that a
semblance of community support was ensured.
On the 7
th
of August, they had already convened a general meeting; now they
made an appeal to every resident of Auroville to formally answer a series of loaded
questions by “yes” or “no”. This appeal was carefully worded and underlined their
good-willed innocence:
*From the AV Council/Working Committee to all Aurovilians, August 12,
2003:
“Dear Aurovilians,
Following the recent decisions of the Governing Board and its Finance Committee in
relation to the management of the Matrimandir Construction, there has been a
rapidly deteriorating situation at the Matrimandir site. Recently several letters have
been written by the individuals in control at Matrimandir to members of the
Governing Board criticising the actions taken by them. The Governing Board felt it
was necessary to protect itself from possible legal action by the Matrimandir
Executives, and therefore filed a Caveat in court so that no adverse action can be
taken without prior notice. The main sufferer in this state of affairs is the
community of Auroville as the situation has been draining the energy of the
community for so long and is so contrary to the ideals given to us by the Mother.
The Auroville Council/Working Committee believes that the actions taken by the
Governing Board (the appointment of a Core Group for the Matrimandir) and the
Finance Committee (the co-signing of cheques by the Secretary-in-Charge) were
made necessary because the Residents Assembly and the Auroville Council/Working
Committee have been unable to resolve the conflict at the Matrimandir site between
those people controlling the management of the site and the Architect of the
Matrimandir. We believe that these actions of the Governing Board and Finance
Committee are in the best interests of Auroville, at least as a temporary measure,
until we are able to bring harmony and a spirit of collaboration to the day-to-day
functioning of the site by ourselves.
The Auroville Council/Working Committee believes that the community of Auroville
should no longer be a helpless spectator to what is happening at the Matrimandir.
We believe that it is urgent and necessary that the community asserts itself in
relation to the progress and development of Matrimandir so that a situation can be
created which re-establishes the deep links that we all have to the Matrimandir.
The Auroville Council/Working Committee presented a proposal for a change of
management at Matrimandir to a General Meeting called for that purpose on
Thursday, August 7
th
. At the meeting it was made clear that the proposals were not
in opposition to the decisions of the Governing Board and the position of the
Architect. The meeting further agreed with the Auroville Council/Working
Committee that feedback should be taken from the entire community. We request
you to give us your feedback to the following proposals, which are on the reverse
page.