NEW DELHI: Demanding their reinstatement, scores of civil defence volunteers (CVDs) protested outside the residence of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Wednesday. The agitating volunteers gathered outside the CM’s private residence in northwest Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh early morning and raised slogans like ‘Rekha Gupta hosh mein aao’, ‘Dilli Sarkar Hosh mein aao’ and ‘Apne vaade poore karo’.
“In October 2023, we were sacked. The SOPs issued for the deployment of civil defence personnel state that they can only be called during emergencies. The SOPs cited the Civil Defence Act, which states that we can be called during emergencies. But this act existed earlier too. Then why were we hired in 2015?” questioned a civil defence volunteer.
The CDVs were removed from November 1, 2023, after objections were raised by finance and revenue departments that CDVs were meant to serve in disaster mitigation-related works and their deployment as bus marshals was wrong.
AAP Delhi convener Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed the protesting bus marshals were detained by police.
“A demonstration of Civil Defence Bus Marshals is going on in the Janta Darbar in front of the residence of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. Several bus marshals have been detained by the police. You might remember that the BJP had promised that they would be given permanent jobs within 60 days of the formation of the government. But till now they have not been taken back to temporary jobs,” he wrote in a post on X in Hindi.
However, police clarified that none of the agitating bus marshals had been detained during the Wednesday demonstration.