Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot on Saturday said he will issue directions on deploying bus marshals as home guards so that they don’t lose their jobs and passengers are also not left inconvenienced. Gahlot also claimed that chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has never said that civil defence employees (working as) bus marshals should be removed.
Addressing a press conference, Gahlot, who also holds the portfolio of Home department, said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has asked him to issue directions on deploying bus marshals as home guards.
“The bus marshals are trained manpower. Deploying them as home guards will ensure that they remain employed and passengers also feel comfortable while travelling in buses. I will issue necessary directions to Secretary (Home),†he said.
Gahlot also said he had issued directions many times in the past to release the dues of the civil defence volunteers, who have been deployed as bus marshals, but alleged there were attempts to stop the work being done by the government.
“The AAP government and Chief Minister Kejriwal are with the civil defence volunteers. Our attempts are to ensure that bus marshals get deployed as home guards,†he added. “We had asked to release the salary of bus marshals. It is wrong to say the CM has asked to remove them. CM has ordered me to deploy bus marshals as Home Guards,†he clarified.
The AAP Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor’s office on Friday locked horns over discontinuing the services of the capital’s Civil Defence Volunteers (CDVs) – a decision affecting thousands of livelihoods. The latest tussle revolves around the proposal to deploy as many CDVs as possible as Home Guards, which is in the process of inducting around 10,000 personnel over the coming days. While the AAP government claimed this arrangement was CM Arvind Kejriwal’s idea, Raj Niwas claimed that L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena had mooted it after receiving a proposal to discontinue the CDV service from November 1. The Lieutenant Governor also directed the chief minister to consider recruiting the volunteers to be terminated as Home Guards. Amid a tussle between the LG office and the Delhi government, hundreds of civil defence volunteers started an indefinite sit-in protest outside the Delhi Secretariat to demand their unpaid dues.
