Screening Out Delhi’s Poverty

Authorities will put up bamboo screens to hide New Delhi’s dilapidated areas during the Commonwealth games Poverty, which usually has foreign tourists gushing with emotion, is going to be hidden for the time being behind bamboo screens for the upcoming Commonwealth games in New Delhi. The authorities have taken a cue from last year’s Beijing Olympics where screens were put up in front of the dilapidated areas of the city. “We thought of putting up cloth, vinyl or even natural screens like bushes in front of slums. Then we thought, why not bamboo?” says Rakesh Mehta, chief secretary, Delhi. As of now, authorities are sourcing the lathi bamboo from Rajasthan, but talks are also on with the Mizoram and Assam governments. “We are enlisting the help of National Mission on Bamboo Technology and Trade Development in order to find out whether the varieties from Mizoram would be able to survive in Delhi’s climate or not,” says KK Sharma, principal secretary, PWD Delhi.