Govt to rope in 12,000 more civil defence volunteers by weekend

“As many as 11,930 individuals have applied between June 1 and June 14 to enrol as civil defence volunteers in Delhi. We are trying to officially induct them by the end of this week,” a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

The Delhi government is looking to rope in around 12,000 more civil defence volunteers as part of its drive to scale up the city’s hospital bed capacity to 150,000 by July 31 to combat the raging Covid-19 pandemic.

Relatives interact with a medic ahead of the cremation ceremony of a person who died of coronavirus infection, at Nigambodh Ghat, in New Delhi. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

“As many as 11,930 individuals have applied between June 1 and June 14 to enrol as civil defence volunteers in Delhi. We are trying to officially induct them by the end of this week,” a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

The official further said, “In normal circumstances, a month-long training programme and a thorough police verification process follow the application. But the Delhi government has requested the office of the directorate of civil defence to postpone both the training and verification process at least till the Covid-19 pandemic subsides. We need volunteers urgently.”

As part of the current augmentation drive, volunteers familiar with computers shall be engaged as data operators, assistants to digitise health records and perform other back-end tasks, while others will primarily help guard the facilities, ranging from banquet halls and hotels to sports complexes and sheds in open grounds, facilitate the movement of patients before admission and after discharge, and assist in healthcare logistics among other tasks, a senior official in the government’s revenue department, who did not wish to be named, said.

Delhi is sanctioned around 238,000 civil defence volunteers, according to the Union ministry’s website. However, senior government officials said the city has only 46,000 enrolled volunteers, of which around 13,000 are on active duty. The volunteers are not bound by any job contract and are paid an emolument of around ₹730 for a day’s duty.

“The new induction is likely to take the number of active civil defence volunteers to around 25,000. After this, we will still need 25,000 more volunteers by mid-July,” the revenue department official said.

During Sunday’s meeting with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union home minister Amit Shah had said that volunteers of the National Cadet Corps, Scouts and National Service Scheme shall be deployed for Covid-19 management in Delhi. “This can be immensely helpful, but, so far, there is a lack of clarity on the volunteer strength that will be available for Delhi,” said the revenue department official.

Delhi’s revenue minister Kailash Gahlot said: “Civil defence volunteers continue to play a major role in the capital’s fight against Covid-19 — from manning barricades at containment zones to the doorstep delivery of essentials, the distribution of food at hunger centres, the distribution of ration and the adherence to government guidelines in public buses. In the next few days, we are looking forward to more recruitment.”

“We will need more helping hands as the city gets ready for an intense exercise focused on augmentation of its healthcare capacity in the next two months,” Delhi’s chief secretary Vijay Dev said.

Technically, the revenue department official explained, the induction of civil defence volunteers is a round-the-year exercise. But whenever there is a specific task, the government publishes advertisements, anticipating bulk applications.

The last such advertisement — published on May 23 — faced heavy criticism as it mentioned the state of Sikkim as part of a neighbouring country. The advertisement led to the suspension of a senior officer in the directorate of civil defence (headquarters). The correct version of the advertisement was re-published on May 25 in several publications.

On Sunday, when HT visited the premises of a spiritual organisation in south Delhi’s Chhatarpur, civil defence volunteers were spotted guarding a shed which is being converted into a 10,000-bed capacity makeshift hospital. Kuldeep Nagar, a volunteer at the site, said that he was earlier deployed at a ration distribution centre for crowd management to ensure social distancing, and that all beneficiaries in the queue wore face masks. “I have also guarded a containment zone that was de-notified in the first week of May,” he said.

Dharamveer Nagar, another volunteer deployed currently in east Delhi, said: “The spike in the number of Covid-19 cases, especially among those working on the frontlines, is a cause of concern. Will we be given beds in the temporary hospitals being set up if one of us contracts the disease?”

Jugal Kishore, head of community medicines department in Safdarjung Hospital, said: “The participation of volunteers plays an important role in any public health initiative. They not only help the administration in a wide range of works, but also do better to change the perception of the people, which is much needed, as the number of Covid-19 cases is going up exponentially now. However, there is no substitute for proper training.”