Uncertain future troubles home guards protecting women

The home guards hand-picked for protecting women in the city seem to be themselves a disturbed lot and many of them aired their grievances over low pay, non-regularisation of jobs and forced part-time work for earning a decent living.

At a function where Transport Minister Gopal Rai elaborated on the government’s plans to use home guards to augment women safety on buses, many of the aspiring women commando force members painted a gloomy picture about their future.

Some said the AAP government was still to keep its promise of regularising our jobs.
Jaiprakash, a home guard, said: “Neither do we have any medical facility nor an ESI card.”

“We were promised that once the AAP comes to power, the home guards would be regularly employed and the five-year tenure will go away,” he said.

“We demand that we shouldn’t be dismissed after five years and should be employed till the age of 60,” he said.

Vijendra Kumar, another home guard who will soon attend a gender sensitisation training, said: “Earlier, we used to work under Delhi Police and would now be working under the DTC.”

“We get a salary of Rs 12,000 which is clearly insufficient in this age of inflation. We are forced to take up odd jobs to make our ends meet. The duty of a home guard is like that of a labourer,” said Kumar.

Arvind Mishra, another home guard, gave the example of Andaman and Nicobar Islands where their counterparts are given perks.

“The DTC should also give us some perks,” he said. “People don’t know that a force like home guards exists. We don’t have a proper uniform, nor do we have an identifying batch that is visible to everyone and highlights that we are the Mahila Commando Force,” he said.

“Just like the Metro has its own police, why can’t we constitute a separate police for DTC buses?” he said.

Home guard Shamsuddin said: “We have long working hours and get only two days to rest in an entire month. Delhi Police, CISF and BSF people get better allowances and work incentives.”

Starting next month, the government plans to deploy  home guards on DTC buses, bus stands and depots.