Evicted by untrained staff

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 22

In the centre of a controversy of mishandling the removal of AAP MLAs from the House today, the watch and ward staff (known as marshals) have no specialised training on how to remove the MLAs.

Sources said that nearly 90 per cent of the 180-member contingent, men and women constables, were greenhorns drawn from the police for each session and are tasked with maintaining law and order on the Assembly premises. Only 20 are permanently stationed on the House premises.

Their training on handling a situation like the one today is just a briefing that they will not retaliate to any provocation or aggression by the MLAs.

The staff’s profile is to protect the Speaker and other staff, carry out the Speaker’s orders without question, protect the property of the House and keep an eye on the guest and media galleries.

The staff is trained to form three human chains before the Speaker’s chair, block paper missiles or anything which the MLAs may throw at the chair.

Apart from them, a special force, including para-military personnel, are sometimes deployed outside the Assembly.