Civil defence volunteers disciplined after a slew of adverse field reports
New Delhi: After a spate of adverse field office reports about civil defence volunteers not maintaining discipline and often not wearing their yellow vests, the Delhi government's Directorate of Civil Defence has now directed them to ensure the vests are kept on, among other directions.The order read, "The feedback received from field offices has highlighted the indiscipline by the members of civil defence corps on various fronts which brings a bad name to this elite organization."
According to an officer, wardens and volunteers were told to wear a civil defence yellow jacket over their uniform or clothing while on duty. They were further told to observe Covid appropriate behaviour and discipline while dealing with the public.
"There should be regular visits made by senior wardens to oversee the discipline of volunteers at all places of call out in user departments and submission of feedback to concerned DM," the order read.
They were also directed to obey traffic rules whether on or off duty and follow all instructions issued through different SOPs and orders related to discipline and code of conduct.
Meanwhile, District Magistrates were told to conduct meetings with wardens, volunteers and set up a mechanism to instill a sense of discipline among civil defence volunteers and deal with instances of indiscipline sternly.
The action taken report on complaints against volunteers should be sent to headquarters on a weekly basis. "District Magistrates were further directed to re-assess the requirement of volunteers at various locations and ensure that the deployment is commensurate with the actual minimum requirement," the official said.
Recently, an inquiry was launched by Delhi Police after a video surfaced in which a civil defence volunteer was seen arguing with an ACP rank officer in North East Delhi.
Police said the incident took place in the Nand Nagri area. "There was an issue related to traffic snarls in that area when the ACP went there when the issue took place. Further inquiry was going on," the official said.
