Delhi air pollution: 50% govt employees to work from home; primary schools to remain shut from Nov 5

As air pollution in the national capital is deteriorating every day, the Delhi Government has allowed half of its employees to work from home. Giving details, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said that 50 percent of employees of the government will work from home in view of the alarming smog situation in the Delhi NCR region.

As per the Central Pollution Control Board, the air quality index (AQI) of the national capital exceeded to severe category (470), 10 times more than the global safety threshold.

The Minister further said that the same advisory will be issued to private offices also to allow 50 percent of employees to work from home.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that the primary schools in the national capital will remain closed from Saturday until further notice.

Delhi is under the severe category for the second consecutive day. The SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research) today issued data showing that stubble-burning contributed 34 percent in Delhi's PM 2.5 pollution.

The situation in the NCR region is worst, the AQI recorded in Noida is 562 (severe), and in Gurugram the AQI stood at 539 (severe).

Gopal Rai said, "Meetings were held with different departments. Plying of trucks except those engaged in essential services will be banned. The commission for air quality management in the national capital region and adjoining areas (CAQM) gave new prohibitory orders on Thursday, whereas construction and demolition activities had already been banned in Delhi but some categories were given relaxations. Ban is being imposed on highway, overbridge and pipelines from today."

Apart from this, the Delhi Government has also banned diesel vehicles except for BS-6 vehicles in the Union territory. A six-member monitoring committee has also been set up to implement the ban.

As the air quality is deteriorating every day, the Delhi Government is also mulling to implement odd-even norms to control vehicular pollution in the UT.