Volunteers brave toxic air to support scheme
NEW DELHI: As a white sedan approached the intersection in south Delhi’s Chirag Dilli, 22-year-old Mamta rushed towards the traffic signal waiving at the driver to stop. As she jumped down from the concrete pavement she handed over her placard to her partner Ritu Kumari and adjusted her anti-pollution mask. Mamta had a brief conversation with the driver, who eventually could be seen taking a U-turn and heading back.
“The driver told me he was confused about the rules. His car was odd numbered, so it’s not allowed to ply today. After I explained, he headed back home to leave his car,” said Mamta, a second-year humanities student enrolled in the University of Delhi’s School of Open Learning.
Both Mamta and Kumari are among 5,000 civil defence volunteers engaged by the Delhi government – in six hour shifts between 8 am and 8 pm – to ensure maximum compliance in the odd-even scheme.
The volunteers come from different backgrounds. While Kumari, 26, used to work with a call centre in Lajpat Nagar till earlier this year when it shut down, 35-year-old Naveen Kumar, deployed at Ambedkar Nagar intersection, was field official in a credit card distribution company. Dheeraj Kapoor, a 26-year-old volunteer deployed near the Siri Fort intersection on the BRT corridor, never had a stable job since 2014, despite being a commerce graduate.
The volunteers get emoluments only when they are deployed in projects. For odd-even, the are entitled to receive around Rs 720 per day till November 15, they said. When not engaged in a project, they are allowed to do other jobs.