Games volunteers in a jam

Many aspirants now don't want to work with the traffic police citing lack of basic facilities

Many aspirants now don't want to work with the traffic police citing lack of basic facilities

Stuck in traffic and waiting for a helping hand? Well, things are unlikely to improve in the next fortnight or so, as many of the volunteers who were to collaborate with the traffic department to keep city roads clear during the Games are having second thoughts. That's because, several of these Good Samaritans are fed up with the poor facilities and lack of arrangements.

Hands Tied: The number of traffic voluneers has been declining steadily
due to inadequate arrangements. pic/mid day

A few volunteers who had come to participate in a programme held at Sarai Kale Khan Maruti Training Centre expressed their grievances against the Delhi police and said they don't want to work with the cops.

Shaivali Gupta, a BSc student said that she attended the programme but no one asked her for lunch.

"I did not have my lunch and rushed towards the function venue after college. I am appalled seeing the poor arrangement," she said.

Urmila, who works for a call centre, said she and many others reached the venue at 10 am but no one asked them for lunch till 5 pm.

"At around 10 am we were at Teen Murti Bhavan; after sometime we were brought to Sarai Kale Khan. We were starving but nobody listened to us," said Pankaj Bharadwaj, another volunteer.

Around a month ago, traffic police did approach Delhiites, through facebook, to volunteer for the Games. Around 2000 persons from across the Capital did show up in the first meeting that was held on September 5 at Gandhi Smriti Bhavan.

In the next session the number of attendees dropped to 1000. Only 500 people showed up at the third meeting that was conducted at Saadik Nagar on September 25. Finally on September 29, the traffic police was left with 250 volunteers. As things stand now, this number could go down further.

No Entry

After the Games medical staff complaining about the non-delivery of accreditation cards, student volunteers from across the city raised their voices on the issue. As many as 500 aspirants have not received their accreditation cards, just three days before the Games are to begin.
"I have had five months of training for the Games, but my accreditation card is still not here. I have already invested so much time and effort for the event that now at the last moment, it doesn't make any sense to be not allowed inside," said Salim Khan, a language student from Max Mueller Bhavan.
Volunteers held a daylong protest on Wednesday at Jantar Mantar, before the CWG office, seeking reasons for the delays. Shouting anti-OC slogans, these volunteers swarmed the CWG office. Later in the evening two volunteers representing the group met the Head of the Volunteer Department for the CWG. Here they were told that their police verifications are still pending due to which the cards cannot be issued. However, Upender Dhar, Head of Volunteers department, CWG, said: "I cannot help the situation. We had selected the students for the job, but since their police verification is pending, we cannot issue them the cards."