Photo Gallery: Ahead of Donald Trump's visit, Ahmedabad wall paints colours of India and US

A wall has been built in Gujarat's Ahmedabad reportedly to keep a slum cluster out of sight during the visit of US President Donald Trump. The 500 metres long and four feet tall wall is being built in Ahmedabad's Sardarnagar, which has several slum structures and is situated along a road that leads to the Indira bridge on the outskirts of the city from the airport, a route likely to be taken by Trump's motorcade.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner K B Thakkar said it was not clear if the route, on which the wall is being built, will be used by the US president's motorcade. "This wall, around 500-meter-long and four feet high, has nothing to do with Trump's visit. A wall was already there for many years. After it got dilapidated, we decided to build a new one. An online tender was also issued over a month back, much before Trump's visit was announced. This is a compound wall is surrounding our plot," Thakkar had said.

Refuting the allegations, AMC officials had said the construction of the wall, around four feet in height, was approved much before Trump's Gujarat visit was finalised.

The wall is being built on an AMC-owned plot in Sardarnagar, which has several slum structures and is situated along a road that leads to the Indira bridge on the outskirts of the city from the Ahmedabad International Airport.

 

The Congress has alleged that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is constructing the wall to keep the slum colony, where people live in poverty, out of sight of the US President.

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi alleged the wall was being built to hide the stark reality of people living in penury in the area.

According to another AMC official, this slum locality, along the road from the airport to Indira bridge, is part of Sardarnagar township and the civic body has been trying to make the lives of residents there better.

US President Donald Trump will start his two-day India visit from Ahmedabad, where he will take part in a grand roadshow, visit the Sabarmati Ashram and inaugurate a newly-built cricket stadium with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 24.