Marshals to stop theft of expensive govt property

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The city will soon witness the deployment of marshals in all busy places. The decision to deploy marshals has been taken by the Delhi government to stop frequent incidents of theft of expensive tiles, ornamental plants and streetlights, put up as part of its drive to beautify the capital ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
The PWD, which is spending thousands of crores to improve the look of the city ahead of the sporting event, mooted the idea of deploying the marshals following the incidents of theft of “street furnitures” and other costly items.
Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit is considering the proposal of the PWD to deploy marshals and is likely to take a “favourable decision very soon”, a top PWD official said.
The official added, “We cannot deploy marshals on all the roads. But we can deploy them in theft prone areas.” Under its street scaping and beautification drive, the PWD has put up costly tiles, street lights and ornamental plants in several areas of the city. “Theft of costly items like tiles, street-lights and plants have been reported from various areas of the city. It is becoming a big headache for us. Even items kept at the project sites are being stolen,” stated the PWD officials.
The officials added that the department has registered complaint with the police in various areas, but no visible action has been taken so far by the police. “Ideally it is the job of the police to ensure protection of government properties. But as they are not taking the issue seriously, we have mooted the idea of deploying marshals,” said PWD officials.