Scores of bus marshals deployed in cluster and DTC buses on Friday went on an indefinite sit-in outside the Delhi Secretariat over non-payment of their wages.
The protesters said they will continue their sit-in outside the Delhi Secretariat until their demands are met and that their protest will be round-the-clock.
Kiran Devi, a bus marshal undergoing treatment for throat cancer at AIIMS, brought her one-year-old daughter to the Delhi secretariat.
“There are some medicines that have to be bought from outside. It has become difficult to buy such expensive medicines since I have not received my dues for the last five months. My husband is the sole earning member, and we have to take care of our two children,” she said.
Several others related similar tales of hardships, about how they have been unable to pay for their children’s education or buy their parents’ medicines, all because they were not paid their dues.
Sachin, a bus marshal since 2015 who goes by his first name, said this is their fourth protest.
“We have protested four times—once at LG House, once at CM House, then at DTC headquarters, and now outside the Delhi Secretariat. We submitted memorandums but our pleas have not been heard. Nearly 60 to 80 per cent of bus marshals live in rented houses, and they do not have money to pay it,” he said.
Bus marshals do not get any medical benefit; if someone takes a “drastic step” then who will take the responsibility, he asked.
