Curtains on 'garibi'

AHMEDABAD: The commuters on the road from Vadaj Circle to RTO Circle were in for a surprise on Wednesday as they felt as if they were going into a wedding venue! The reason was apparent – there were green curtains that extended from one end of Chandrabhaga Bridge near historic Dandi Bridge to Gandhi Ashram, effectively masking the slum areas near Gandhi Ashram that was on the route of China president Xi Jinping and his entourage.
It might be the authority’s answer to the slogan – Garibi Hatao – as they instead believed in Garib Hatao (Remove the poor rather than eradicate poverty), felt many. “It was a deliberate window dressing by the city and state authorities where they masked out the blots on the ‘development’ they wanted to show through dazzling show at Sabarmati Riverfront of an emerging metro of India. While the poorer areas were covered up, the local residents were also not allowed to come out of their houses,” said a social commentator at Gandhi Ashram.