Delhi BJP workers on Monday protested near Chief Minister Atishi's residence demanding immediate reappointment of 10,000 civil defence volunteers (CDVs) who were removed last year as bus marshals. They were later detained by the Delhi Police including state BJP President Virendra Sachdeva who were taken away in police vehicles.

"Some BJP workers were detained and were removed from the protest site to maintain law and order," a senior police officer said. They were taken to Tilak Marg police station and released after a warning.

Leading the protesters, Sachdeva accused Atishi of failing to do anything for reappointment of the bus marshals. “We are here to demand accountability from Atishi for spoiling the Diwali of more than 10,700 bus marshals. These bus marshals are not just numbers; they are families who lost their jobs due to one signature of Arvind Kejriwal,” the BJP leader said.

He added, “No matter how many accusations the AAP makes, we will keep raising our voice for these bus marshals and civil defense personnel until they get employment. For a long time, our MPs and MLAs have been raising the voice of bus marshals, and taking note of this, the Lieutenant Governor ordered the reinstatement of civil defense and bus marshals from November 1.”

Sachdeva added that despite it being November 4, Atishi has neither issued orders nor sent the file to the Lieutenant Governor. “To date, Atishi has not explained why, when Arvind Kejriwal signed the order to remove bus marshals, how could she then accuse BJP of removing them? If the AAP is keen to take credit, let them do so, but they should give employment to the families whose Diwali and now Chhath are spoiled,” he said, adding if justice is not served to them, the BJP will keep fighting like this.

 “The BJP government is going to be formed in Delhi, and in the first cabinet meeting, the BJP government will regularize as per law all contractual employees, whether from the health department, teachers, bus marshals, or civil defense personnel,” he asserted.

Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta accused Atishi of failing to form a three-member committee. “When we wrote a letter on October 10, there was no response, and then on October 24, the Lieutenant Governor wrote a letter about the committee and suggested utilizing them in the fight against pollution, but that too was ignored,” he alleged.

Atishi had said on Sunday that the deployment of the CDVs with various agencies implementing anti-air pollution measures in the city will begin in the next two-four days. She had also said a proposal for permanent engagement of the removed CDVs will be sent for approval of the LG in the next one week.

 The LG had earlier written to Atishi, saying he was yet to receive a proposal from her government to reappoint the CDVs. He urged the chief minister to expedite the process.  The 10,000 CDVs working as marshals in public transport buses were removed from their jobs in November last year after objections were raised that they were deployed against the mandate to serve for disaster mitigation works.