In a big relief to erstwhile Civil Defence Volunteers (CDVs) who were terminated as bus marshals by the then Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal last year in October, will be deployed on pollution mitigation related duties for four months beginning November, 1, 2024.  The Lieutenant Governor, who is also chairman of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, has advised the city government and the chief minister to come up with a concrete scheme based on due process for their future engagement after the four-month employment period.  They may be deployed at PUCC centres, hotspots, DPCC, concerned departments and Urban Local Bodies under supervision of district magistrates for the purpose of air pollution  mitigation.

The scheme -- to be prepared by the Delhi government for regular employment of the civil defence volunteers -- will include details of their deployment, budgetary provision, financial approvals, post creation and reservation norm.

There are over 10,000 CDVs who were terminated by the government last year.

“Recruitment rules may also be framed by the relevant department and a proposal be moved to the Services department for initiating the process of  recruitment, after approval of Finance Department and make adequate budget provision,” he said.

In the letter, LG said the core of the entire argument for CDV's revolves around their deployment as bus marshalls. The Council of Ministers needs to deliberate on the scope of job of  such bus marshalls, the number of positions required for this role, the conditions of  eligibility etc. More importantly, a decision is required on whether these would be  temporary positions or permanent posts. In either case, a due process would need to be  followed to fill such positions.

“In the meantime, it is important to take a humanitarian view of the hardship  being faced by CDV's who were misled into being deployed as bus marshalls.

Though  this is a transferred subject, but no proposal was forthcoming from your end so I am  being forced to step in.   I have been mulling over a solution for this vexed problem involving livelihood  of thousands of CDVs and their families. Today in the DDMA meeting, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC)  presented a grim prognosis of air quality in the comings months.

Air quality reaches  hazardous levels on multiple occasions when the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) is forced to invoke GRAP IV  measures, which also have a cascading impact on the economy.

This unabated winter phenomenon is nothing short of a disaster, given the severe implication on public  health,” reads the letter.

The LG said he would suggest that the Divisional Commissioner be advised to call  out services of CDV's, specifically of those who were engaged as on 31st October 2023, for a duration of say four months and engage them for air pollution mitigation  activities. 

“This measure shall serve the twin objective of providing relief to these  families who were misled into being engaged for non-existent jobs, and also  mitigating the impact of the disaster of air pollution in Delhi,” the letter said.