As Delhi prepares to welcome world leaders for the BRICS Summit, blue and white screens have gone up around Coolie Camp in Vasant Vihar.
For residents of the settlement, the sight is familiar.
Similar screens were put up around Coolie Camp during the G20 Summit in 2023, when the settlement was along routes used by visiting delegates. At the time, residents told Scroll that the screens had concealed the colony from view and that restrictions had affected their businesses.
Now, ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit, residents say the screens have appeared again.
Some believe they have been put up to hide the settlement from visiting dignitaries. Others say they have no major objection and see them as part of keeping Delhi clean and presentable for international visitors.
But for people who depend on daily work, the issue is more immediate: getting out, getting to work, buying essentials and keeping their businesses running.
The BRICS Summit is being held in New Delhi on 12 and 13 September, with Delhi Traffic Police putting comprehensive arrangements in place from 11 to 13 September, including traffic restrictions and diversions linked to the movement of dignitaries.
‘They have put these up to hide the slum’
The blue and white screens appeared suddenly, according to residents interviewed at Coolie Camp.
One woman, who said she has lived there since childhood, said residents had not been told beforehand why they were being installed.
“They put these up this morning. They didn't tell us. We don't know why they have put them up. They are saying some leader or someone is coming, so they are closing the road. So that the dirt is not visible from outside. They say slum dwellers spread dirt.”
She rejected that characterisation.
“No one stays cleaner than slum dwellers. Look at our lanes, see how clean they are. Who cleans them? We do. Whoever lives here, whoever has a door here, they clean the area in front of their own door.”
Another resident was more direct when asked why he thought the screens had been installed.
“It's a slum, isn't it? They have put these up to hide it.”
Residents interviewed for this story believe the screens are connected to the movement of senior leaders and foreign delegations. However, the interviews do not establish that concealing Coolie Camp is the official reason for their installation.
Delhi is carrying out wider security and civic preparations ahead of the summit. Delhi Traffic Police has announced comprehensive arrangements for 11 to 13 September and advised commuters to expect diversions and restrictions.
The memory of the G20
For residents, the current screens bring back memories of 2023.
During the G20 Summit, a large green screen was put up around Coolie Camp. Residents told Scroll at the time that the screen had been installed to keep the settlement out of view of delegates and complained that businesses had suffered as customers stopped coming.
Residents interviewed now say similar restrictions affected them during the G20.
One resident recalled:
“It happened during the G20 too. They had put them up then as well.”
Another said:
“The police will beat us with sticks and drive us away. Has this happened to you before? Yes, we were driven away. It happened during the G20 too. Whenever they put them up, we were driven away.”
For some residents, that experience has made the latest screens feel less like a one-off arrangement and more like something they encounter whenever Delhi hosts a major international event.
TL;DR | News At a Glance
Why have screens gone up around Coolie Camp?
Blue and white screens have appeared around the settlement ahead of the BRICS Summit. Residents interviewed believe they are connected to the movement of senior leaders, and some say they are intended to hide the settlement. The official purpose of these specific screens has not been established in the material reviewed for this story.
Has this happened before?
Yes. Residents recall similar screening during the 2023 G20 Summit. Contemporary reporting from Coolie Camp documented residents' claims that the settlement was being hidden from visiting delegates and that businesses were affected.
How are residents being affected?
Interviewees described difficulty getting to work, buying essentials and attracting customers. Several daily-wage workers and small business owners said they were losing or expected to lose income.
Do all residents object to the screens?
No. Some residents said they had little difficulty using the remaining passages and believed the screens helped present a cleaner image of Delhi to foreign visitors.
‘Today I am sitting at home’
For people earning money day by day, restrictions on movement can quickly become a loss of income.
One resident who works as a labourer said he was unable to go to work.
“I work as a labourer. There is a problem with work. We can't go to work because movement has been stopped. The police are not allowing us to come and go.”
Asked whether he was going to work, he replied:
“Where will I go? I'm sitting at home today.”
And if the restrictions continued for several days?
“I'll have to stay on leave. What else can I do?”
He said he would have to use whatever he had already earned to cover the loss.
“Whatever I have earned, I'll have to use that to cover what I lose.”
Another resident, who sells vegetables, said he normally earns Rs. 300 to Rs. 400 a day.
“Three to four hundred. I'm not able to earn that now.”
He said he was still trying to work because he needed the money.
“I still have to do it somehow. I have to earn for my stomach. I'm suffering a loss.”
Shops are losing customers
The impact is not limited to daily-wage workers.
A shopkeeper whose business is directly in front of the screens said customers had stopped coming.
“This is a loss for us. It is a loss for the shop. There are no customers. When the screen was put up in front, the gate was closed. It's a complete loss. Who will come?”
He said the shop normally earns between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 1,200 a day.
“I make Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,200 a day. Now there is nothing.”
He also recalled what happened during the G20.
“It was there for four days. Four days means a loss of around Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 5,000.”
Another resident, who sells vegetables, said he had been unable to earn normally.
“I have to do it somehow. I still have to work.”
The disruption comes as Delhi prepares for extensive traffic restrictions during the summit. Delhi Traffic Police has issued advisories for 11 to 13 September and asked commuters to plan ahead and allow extra travel time.
‘If we look so bad, build something better for us’
For some residents, the question goes beyond the inconvenience of a temporary screen.
One woman who said she had lived in Coolie Camp since childhood questioned why the government did not improve the settlement instead.
“If we look so bad to you, then build something good and tall for us here.”
Another resident made the argument more directly.
“Look, we live in a slum. If you don't want us to live in a slum, that's a different matter. Give us another place to live and we'll go there. What is this? You have put up a screen and hidden poor people. The rich people should be visible.”
He said the problem was also practical.
“It is very difficult to come and go because this screen has been put up. If someone wants to take out a bag, go to work or do some work, they have to lift the screen and go through. It is causing problems.”
‘We just want our drains cleaned’
Another resident said he was less concerned about the screen itself than the basic conditions inside the settlement.
He said residents wanted the drains and surrounding areas cleaned.
“We just want them to clean the road, drains and everything around our slum. We don't want anything else.”
He said residents were often blamed when garbage accumulated outside.
“If there is garbage lying on the road outside, we are the ones who get a hundred abuses for it. Do you know that?”
For him, covering the settlement for a few days was not the real solution.
“You can put up the screen for three or four days, or even ten days. We will accept it even if we have to go hungry. But at least clean up the dirt and garbage around us.”
But not everyone wants the screens removed
The residents of Coolie Camp do not have one common view.
One shopkeeper, who said he has had his shop there for more than 35 years, said he believed cleanliness mattered when international visitors were coming.
“Look, cleanliness should be there inside the house too. This is Delhi. It should be kept a little clean. There should be cleanliness in Delhi.”
He compared it to preparing one's home for guests.
“If we are going to someone's house, if I am coming to your house, won't you clean your house? Won't you clean it?”
Another resident said he had no major difficulty because a passage had been left open.
“For now, there is no problem. There is a passage for us. We can walk through it. When we have to go outside, we can go. It doesn't cause any problem for me or my family.”
He also believed the screens could prevent foreign visitors from seeing the settlement's poorer conditions.
“If foreign people are coming and our country's honour is being protected, then that should be protected. At least they shouldn't go outside and defame our country.”
Asked how covering the settlement would prevent that, he said:
“They will go and say that your country has garbage everywhere, that slum dwellers are like this, that wherever they stand, they throw garbage, and wherever they sit down to eat, they throw their plates there. At least we will be protected from that.”
“Our country will not be embarrassed.”
‘Our country is not poor’
Another resident objected to the idea that poor communities should be hidden when international leaders visit.
“The ministers and others coming from outside are the reason they are hiding our identity because we are poor. We want to say that our country is not poor. They have turned all this into a business for themselves.”
For him, the immediate issue was not appearances but access.
“The problem is that they are stopping us from coming and going. The police are telling us to stop moving around. Now if we need to buy vegetables, where will we go? We can't stay hungry at home.”
‘These are the people most affected by climate change’
One resident connected the situation to the larger issues he expects international summits to discuss.
He argued that people living in settlements are among those most exposed to the effects of climate change, while contributing relatively little to the environmental damage they experience.
“When climate change is being discussed, these are the people who are most affected by climate change. And this is happening even though they have no contribution to damaging the climate.”
He said their experiences should also be part of policy discussions.
“These people's voices should also reach those discussions.”
This is the resident's argument, rather than an official position on the BRICS agenda.
A fear of losing their homes
The interviews also revealed another concern among some long-term residents: the future of the settlement itself.
One resident said he had lived there since 1990 and claimed that authorities had attempted to demolish the settlement several times.
“The government has demolished the slums two or three times.”
He also said:
“There is a case going on concerning our slums.”
The transcript does not provide details of the case, including the parties, court or current status. These statements are therefore presented as the resident's claims, not as established legal facts.
For another resident, however, Coolie Camp is home and he wants to stay.
“We were born here. Our childhood was here. Our eyes opened here.”
He added:
“We actually like living here very much. We are thinking that if they give us as much as we need here, that would be good.”
When the city prepares to be seen
Delhi is being transformed for the BRICS Summit.
The city's preparations include extensive security and traffic arrangements, with Delhi Traffic Police announcing restrictions and diversions for 11 to 13 September.
For residents of Coolie Camp, however, the preparations are visible in a more immediate way.
There is now a screen between their homes and the road.
For some, it is simply a temporary measure.
For others, it is a barrier that affects their work and movement.
And for some, it carries a larger message: that when Delhi prepares to present itself to the world, poverty is something the city would rather put behind a curtain.
The residents do not agree on why the screens are there.
But many agree on what they would rather see instead.
Better sanitation.
Better infrastructure.
And, above all, the ability to work and move freely.
As one resident put it:
“Give us another place to live and we'll go there.”
For now, the screens remain.
And behind them, Coolie Camp does too.
