Ahmedabad: Beautifying place when some influential personalities are about to visit a particular location is a common scene, but Gujarat administration has taken up a herculean task of building a ‘Great Wall’ to hide its black spots.
Believe it or nor, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has started building wall to hide the slums and to cover up ‘all sights of poverty’ in wake of US President Donal Trump’s visit.
In this bid, a half a km long wall, which will be at least six feet tall is being built alongside the road connecting Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel airport to Indira Bridge, reports Indian Express.
The wall intends to hide atleast 500 kutcha houses at the Dev Saran or Saraniyavaas slum area.
Once the wall is built, palm saplings will be planted to beautify the stretch, which will be taken by US President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 24 for their roadshow, when the two visit the state for a massive event at the newly built Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium on the lines of ‘Howdy, Modi’, which was held in Houston last year.
The roads that were crying for attention too will be resurfaced, say the locals.
The overall cost of the beautification is expected to be around Rs 50 crore, the Ahmedabad Mirror reported.
It may be recalled that a similar exercise was taken up before the visit of Trump’s daughter Ivanka to Hyderabad in 2017. Then, the beggars were rounded up by police from the streets.
Beautification drives were also held when Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie Abe visited Gujarat for two days in 2017, and when China’s President Xi Jinping visited in 2014.
