Delhi: Atishi blames LG for delay in engagement of bus marshals | Latest News Delhi

Delhi chief minister Atishi on Friday alleged that her government’s efforts to regularise and reinstate 10,000 bus marshals have been inexplicably delayed by the office of lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena.

“Two weeks ago the Delhi government sent a proposal to the LG to regularise bus marshals and retain their deployment in buses until then. However, the LG has not responded to this proposal. Prioritising women’s safety, the LG should approve the proposal without further delay,” Atishi said, requesting leader of the opposition Vijender Gupta to help get the LG’s approval.

Atishi was speaking in the assembly during a discussion initiated by AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar on the issue of the 10,000 bus marshals. Several AAP MLAs who participated in the discussion said former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal deployed bus marshals in public buses in 2015 for the safety of women, but the BJP got them sacked.

“The central government and the LG stopped the salaries of bus marshals from March 2023. Delhi’s transport and revenue ministers wrote back-to-back to officers and the LG to resume the salaries of the bus marshals but that did not happen. The officials said that the bus marshals are not required. In October 2023, the LG sacked all the bus marshals. He did not think about the women of Delhi and the families of the 10,000 bus marshals,” Atishi said.

Around 10,000 civil defence volunteers (CDVs) — mostly working as bus marshals — were sacked in November 2023 over issues related to their engagement. Since then the bus marshals have been protesting in the city seeking reinstatement. The bus marshals and their extended families constitute a large voting bloc, and the AAP and the BJP have been supporting different groups of bus marshals. A group of bus marshals were also present in the Delhi assembly gallery during the discussions.

In the last week of October, the LG office and the Delhi government had announced that the CDVs will be engaged in pollution mitigation efforts for four months while their re-engagement plan was being finalised. Both the AAP and the BJP took credit for their proposed re-engagement and claimed credit for it. But the bus CDVs have not yet been re-engaged and both the AAP and the BJP have engaged in blame game.

Responding to Atishi and the AAP MLAs in the Delhi assembly, the BJP said that the order to sack the bus marshals was given by the then chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

“The AAP government is misleading 10,000 bus marshals by levelling baseless allegations against the BJP. The BJP is not responsible for the sacking of the bus marshals. The order to sack 10,000 bus marshals was issued by Kejriwal in October 2023, and their services were terminated without any explanation on October 31, 2023,” said leader of opposition Vijender Gupta.

Hitting back, Atishi said that bus marshals were sacked on the LG’s orders, and added that the LG ignored Kejriwal’s requests to not sack the bus marshals.

“Vijender Gupta should read the October 20, 2023 letter of Arvind Kejriwal in which he said that not even a single bus marshal should be removed, and action should be taken against officers…who stopped the salaries of the bus marshals. The letter did not move the LG. On October 27 Kejriwal wrote to the LG again requesting that the bus marshals not be sacked. On November 1, on the directions of the LG, the (then) divisional commissioner issued an order removing the CDVs. As revenue minister, I wrote to the divisional commissioner and the LG saying that those CDVs who are working as bus marshals should not be removed because the women will feel insecure, but they did not listen to my advice,” Atishi said.

In response, Gupta said that the AAP government deliberately delayed the process because it had no intention of reinstating or regularising the marshals.

“The issue of reinstating marshals was first raised by BJP MLAs in the assembly session on September 27. A resolution was passed on the matter, following which BJP legislators met with the chief minister on October 5 to submit a memorandum…On the same day a meeting took place between the leader of opposition, the LG, and Atishi where it was decided that a three-member committee would be formed to develop a concrete plan for reinstating the marshals, ensuring financial management, budget allocation, recruitment rules, and reservations. The AAP government deliberately delayed the process and did not form the committee as they had no intention of reinstating or regularizing the marshals,” said Gupta.

The LG office did not respond to requests for comment.