Amid beautification in Delhi ahead of G20 Summit, there are have people who have lost their daily earnings after their roadside stalls and makeshift shops were removed by the authorities in view of the mega event in New Delhi.

If you pass by the Bhairon Marg stretch, one is greeted with a wall made of hoardings announcing the G-20 summit. Hidden behind the walls, though, are slums housing several families who have lost their livelihood.

As the two-day event inches closer, residents of the slum cluster, known as Hafiz Nagar, say they have been asked to even reduce their movements and not “roam around much” in the area.

Sitting inside her portacabin with five family members and a dog, Urmila, a resident, said, “My parents moved to this cluster when I was six months old. Now, it has been 48 years and we are still living here. Residents here used to put up stalls of paratha, chole-kulche, and cold drinks, but due to this summit, we have lost our jobs…they removed all our shops.”

Claiming that the hoarding walls have left the residents with little gap to get out, she asked, “What if there is an emergency?”

Ajay Kashyap, another resident who lives with his family of nine members, said, “It has been more than one and a half months and I have not had any daily earnings. My brother and I used to set up a chole-kulcha rehri near Gate number 1. We are surviving somehow with meagre savings.”

Jai Pal Singh, who ran a small mechanic shop, said, “We suffered a lot during the recent flooding. Our houses were filled with waist-deep water. And now, this big event. How are we supposed to survive?”

Said a government official: “All the illegal encroachments on this stretch have been removed in view of the summit. Anyway, these shops were situated on government property. Orders are from above, and the posters have been put up for branding and beautification.”

Source: IndianExpress