New Delhi, Sep 11 (PTI) Several former bus marshals staged a protest near Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena’s office here demanding reinstatement of their jobs, with AAP MLAs Sanjeev Jha and Kuldeep Kumar supporting their demand.
Hours after the protest, Delhi Minister Atishi wrote to the L-G, asking him to restore the former marshals’ jobs and saying that their callout duties were ended on “frivolous grounds” thus adversely impacting the security of women and children in public buses.
Last year, Saxena approved a proposal to terminate the services of civil defence volunteers deployed as bus marshals. He had also directed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to consider appointing such volunteers in over 10,000 posts of home guards sanctioned by him.
On Wednesday, the protesters sat down near Chandgi Ram Akhara to press for their demands.
In a post in Hindi on X, the AAP said, “Hundreds of bus marshals along with AAP MLAs @KuldeepKumarAAP, @Sanjeev_aap, @KumarMehraulia, @Aap_Praveen and @PawanSharma_AAP protested outside the L-G’s office demanding reinstatement of bus marshals who were removed from their jobs by the BJP’s LG.” In the letter to the L-G Atishi said, “The Government of NCT of Delhi envisioned the Bus Marshal scheme in 2015 to make our DTC and cluster buses safe for women and children. For almost eight years, from 2015 to 2023, these bus marshals continued to discharge their duties with utmost sincerity.” “Eight years after the implementation of this scheme and its successful functioning, in a completely unforeseen move, their salaries were suddenly stopped on your orders, and their callout duties were ended on frivolous grounds, thus putting the Bus Marshal Scheme in limbo,” she said.
The minister also said that following the order, bus marshals were suddenly rendered jobless, thus not only adversely impacting the security of women and children in public buses but also leaving these bus marshals on the streets.
“Many of these bus marshals were totally dependent on this job to support their families,” the letter to the L-G read.
It added that numerous directions have been given to the department to reinitiate the process of engaging bus marshals.
“However, services are under your domain, so this decision needs to be made at your end. We request you to kindly look into this matter humanely as this needs your urgent attention.
“As the elected government in Delhi, we are ready to extend all possible help and support required to restore bus marshals to their jobs. We hope that this matter will be considered and a positive decision will be taken by your good self at the earliest,” Atishi wrote in the letter.
Manzoor Ali, a former bus marshal who joined the protest, said they have been unemployed for the past 11 months and despite the government’s assurances of providing a job as home guard or elsewhere, nothing has been done yet.
Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, who was at the protest site, said, “Today the DTC buses do need bus marshals. Saying that there are CCTV cameras in the buses so we do not need bus marshals is wrong. CCTV cameras are there in the L-G’s house also but he still has a lot of security.” “Our government and all our MLAs are ready to accompany you to meet the L-G,” he told the protesters. PTI MHS SLB NSD NSD
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