"Appoint" Civil Defence Volunteers As Home Guards: Arvind Kejriwal To His Minister

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday asked his Home minister to "appoint" civil defence volunteers as home guards and depute them as marshals in public transport buses in Delhi, officials said.

The civil defense volunteers working as bus marshals are protesting against the government for their pending wages of several months.

In a note, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said that "legal objection" has been raised about the continuation of civil defence volunteers as bus marshals.

It has been said that civil defence volunteers cannot be engaged in regular duties and that they can be called only during any disaster. "Therefore, it has been suggested that home guards be appointed as bus marshals instead of civil defence volunteers," said the note.

"I have separately proposed to LG that civil defence volunteers should be continued as bus marshals till adequate number of home guards are appointed in their place. If the bus marshals are suddenly removed, it will not be good for the safety of women travellers," the chief minister said, according to the note.

Since the existing civil defence volunteers who are working as bus marshals have the required experience a plan should be developed to appoint them only as home guards and continue them as bus marshals, unless there is any specific complaint against any individual, the chief minister.

"So, if we appoint the same set of people as home guards and put them on bus marshal duty, one one hand the government will get experienced people and on the other hand their jobs will continue," said the note.

Earlier in the day, the bus marshals launched an indefinite sit-in outside the Delhi Secretariat, demanding payment of their pending wages of five months.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)