Delhi Government offices and private establishments in the city will function with 50 per cent staff strength, and the rest will work from home as per stage three of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in view of high air pollution levels, according to an order issued on Monday.
The direction was issued by the Environment Department under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, to all Delhi Government offices and private establishments operating in the national Capital.
The 24-hour average AQI (Air Quality Index) settled at 382 on Monday, in the ‘very poor’ category for the 11th consecutive day.
All administrative secretaries and heads of departments will attend office regularly, with not more than 50 per cent of staff strength physically present in the office. The remaining will work from home, it said. All private offices functioning within Delhi will operate with not more than 50 per cent staff physically attending the workplace. The remaining staff will “mandatorily” work from home, it added. Essential services such as hospitals, private health establishments, fire services, public transport, water and sanitation are exempted from the restriction.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, the average AQI stood at 391 on Sunday, 370 on Saturday, 374 on Friday, 391 on Thursday, 392 on Wednesday, 374 on Tuesday and 351 on Monday.
The CPCB’s Sameer app, which displays real-time readings from all monitoring stations across Delhi, showed that out of 38 operational stations, 15 recorded air quality in the ‘severe’ category on Monday. These included stations at ITO, Punjabi Bagh, Patparganj, Ashok Vihar, Sonia Vihar, Rohini, Vivek Vihar, Narela, Bawana, and others where AQI levels crossed the 400-mark.
Meanwhile, the Decision Support System (DSS) of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, estimated that vehicular emissions contributed 21.6 per cent to Delhi’s pollution on Monday, making it the highest pollutant source, while stubble burning accounted for 1.8 per cent. For Tuesday, these contributions are projected at 21 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively.
Satellite imagery detected three farm fires in Punjab, one in Haryana and 522 in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. Meanwhile, the minimum temperature was recorded at 9.3 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal, while the maximum settled at 26.1 degrees Celsius, 0.6 degrees above normal, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
This was the first time that authorities have instructed private offices to “mandatorily” implement the 50 per cent work-from-home directive. Earlier, the Government used to issue advisories for the private sector about work-from-home norms.
The Government has directed district magistrates, deputy commissioner of police and local bodies to ensure compliance with the order by all private offices in the national Capital, it stated.