Ahmedabad (PTI): Days after Ahmedabad was awarded hosting rights of the 2030 Commonwealth Games, the civic body on Saturday carried out an anti-encroachment drive during which residential and commercial structures were demolished to enhance road connectivity near the under-construction Sardar Patel Sports Enclave, officials said.

Heavy machines were involved in the operation carried out by the estate department of the western zone of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) amid tight police security in Motera area here to raze 30 commercial and residential structures.

With the area freed, the authorities will be able to construct a road close to the Narendra Modi Stadium that will enhance connectivity to the Sardar Patel Sports Enclave, which is an under-construction multi-venue sporting enclave for the 2030 Commonwealth Games, said Mahesh Tabiyar, Deputy TDO, West Zone, AMC.

"Around a year back, the owners of the structures were served notice to vacate them after they became a part of a road project. The owners had challenged the notice in the Gujarat High Court, which rejected their application, paving the way for the authorities to implement the demolition drive," he said.

Around 250 structures were demolished in the last six months for the proposed road, and 30 structures were remaining due to litigation, Tabiyar added.

Ahmedabad was formally awarded hosting rights of the 2030 Commonwealth Games on Wednesday, paving the way for the multi-sport event's return to India after two decades and giving impetus to the country's audacious plan of becoming an Olympic host in 2036.

India last hosted the CWG in 2010 in Delhi.

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Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.

Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.

He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.

Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.

He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.

Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.

He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.