Delhi minister wades into politics over civil volunteers

The Delhi government and lieutenant governor are engaged in a credit war over the hiring of civil defence volunteers as Home Guards. The transport minister stated that the volunteers will not lose their jobs, while officials in the lieutenant governor's office said the minister's claims were baseless. The back-and-forth began after the government announced the hiring on Friday.

A day after the Delhi government’s announcement that more than 8,000 civil defence volunteers (CDVs) posted as bus marshals will be hired as Home Guards set off a credit war between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the lietutenant governor, Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot on Saturday said that the CDVs “will not lose their jobs”.

Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot addresses a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday. (ANI)

Gahlot reiterated the government’s position that it was the chief minister who pushed the case for hiring the CDVs, who do contractual jobs and were not receiving salaries since April, as Home Guards.

“There have been continuous instructions from CM Arvind Kejriwal that bus marshals will not be removed. I also wrote repeatedly on the concerned file that bus marshals play a critical role in women’s safety, and they should not be removed. The revenue department raised objections that Civil Defense Volunteers cannot be assigned the task of bus marshals. Then, the CM directed that if civil volunteers cannot be deployed (as bus marshals), then they should be hired as Home Guards. This proposal has been sent to LG,” Gahlot said in a press conference at his residence in south Delhi.

Officials in the LG office, however, said the claims by the minister were baseless. “The fact remains that it was the CM who proposed termination of services of civil defence volunteers from November 1, 2023, and it was the LG who directed that the government should explore employing CDVs as home guards,” said an official from LG’s secretariat.

“It was the LG who flagged loss of livelihood and urged the chief minister to look at it,” the official added.

In fact, the back-and-forth began soon after the announcement on Friday.

First, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a letter said he had proposed to LG VK Saxena that CDVs not be dismissed and be employed as Home Guards and bus marshalls. However, Saxena’s office then issued a statement saying it directed the chief minister to employ the terminated CDVs as Home Guards.

Minutes later, the CM’s office issued a press statement saying Kejriwal had asked the LG to appoint CDVs as Home Guards. Soon after, government spokespersons said they would move the Supreme Court if the LG removes CDVs. To this, the LG’s office issued a note accusing the Delhi government of “lying and misleading”.

“CM Arvind Kejriwal has been saying that bus marshals will continue to be deployed in buses, and will not be removed. But for the past some time, obstacles were being created by various departments. Their salaries have not been released by the finance department for the past several months. I have directed the transport commissioner that bus marshals play a critical role, and they should not be removed. But the revenue department has stated that the bus marshals’ job is not related to disaster management, therefore, the CDVs cannot be deployed for the purpose,” said Gahlot

“The CM has directed that CDVs should be appointed as home guards and they should be deployed as bus marshals,” the minister said.