Delhi govt to begin pilot for Mohalla Marshal initiative

NEWDELHI: The Delhi government is set to kick start its initiative to deploy “mohalla marshals” across the city with a pilot project covering four assembly segments likely to be launched in the first week of April, a senior government official said on Sunday.

The Mohalla Marshal initiative was one of the poll planks of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), under which they had assured the deployment of groups of civil defence volunteers across localities in Delhi, to be primarily tasked with keeping an eye on public spaces and raise an alarm in case of law and order situations, especially concerning the safety and security of women.

The names of the four assembly segments for the pilot project will be decided by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who will also approve the final action plan regarding implementation of the scheme. It is likely to be tabled before the Delhi cabinet this week, the senior official said.

According to another official, in the government’s women and child welfare department, under the draft proposal, each municipal ward in the city will get around 60 to 80 marshals each, depending on the size of the ward.

Delhi has 272 municipal wards divided among 70 assembly segments. “At least 20,000 civil defence volunteers will be needed for the purpose, and the government will launch a recruitment drive at the earliest,” the official said.For the pilot project, the government will need around 1,250 civil defence volunteers, who can be sourced from the current chuck of such volunteers enrolled with the government and had recently played a significant role in the odd-even road space rationing drive last year, the official said.

Several senior government officials said that in each municipal ward, the marshals would function in three shifts of eight hours each, and a fresh roster will be prepared every week .

Currently, the government is also preparing for training facilities for the civil defence volunteers who will be engaged as mohalla marshals, an official said.In October 2019, the government had similarly deployed marshals, entrusted with the same job role, in every public pus operated under the Delhi Transport Corporation. The bus marshals were chosen from among home guards enrolled with the government – both from the existing lot and fresh recruits.

UNDER DRAFT PROPOSAL, EACH MUNICIPAL WARD WILL GET AROUND 60 TO 80 MARSHALS EACH