G20 Factcheck: As India gets ready with glistening infrastructure and shining setup to welcome Heads of States of 19 most influential economies of the world for the G20 Summit 2023 this weekend, there are reports of how Delhi is ‘hiding’ its slums. A latest CNN report said that several residents of the slums near Pragati Maidan have been removed from the area in order to ‘beautify’ the venue for the G20 summit that is scheduled to take place on September 9 and 10 this weekend. However, the Press Information Bureau of the Government of India has termed the CNN report as misleading.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the PIB said that the CNN report about the encroachment in Delhi was ‘misleading’. Factchecking the report, the PIB said that the civic authorities have taken the action and removed the slums from the area due to an order by the Supreme Court.

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The PIB said that the anti-encroachment drive has nothing to do with the G20 Summit. The CNN report had also given a detailed account of plight of the people affected by authorities action in Tughlaqabad. The PIB said that this has nothing to do with the G20 mega meet. It also added that Tughlaqabad is not near the venue where all G20 dignitaries will gather.

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This is not the first time the issue of slums has coincided with a big-ticket event in India. In 2020, Gujarat’s major metro Ahmedabad had hit headlines for building a wall to cover up the slum during the visit of then US President Donald Trump. At that time also, the officials of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation had said that the decision to construct the wall was taken much earlier and had no link to Trump visit. Before that in 2010, Delhi had seen huge placards being installed to cover up the slums during the Commonwealth Games. In fact, back then, there were reports that the beggars and other people of economically weaker sections were taken away from the National Capital to nearby areas.