As Delhi air quality worsens, govt, corporate offices allow WFH to 50% staff

Amid worsening air quality in Delhi NCR region, central government and state governemnt along with private employers have opted for Work From Home( WFH) policy. The Delhi and Haryana governments have come up with a 50% WFH policy as air quality in the NCR (National Capital Region) region shifted to the ‘severe’ category on Wednesday from ‘severe plus’ category on Tuesday.

Delhi government's Environment Minister Gopal Rai took to X and announced that the state government has decided to implement a work-from-home policy for 50% of its employees. To discuss the implementation of this policy, a meeting is to be held at 1 PM today in the Secretariat. The Haryana government also announced a WFH policy for 50% of the employees by all the agencies concerned in the NCR.

Stringent pollution control measures under Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) have been invoked by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in Delhi-NCR, leading to a complete ban on construction activities and the suspension of classes for most students in schools. Classes will be conducted online until the end of the week across colleges in Delhi-NCR, including Delhi University (DU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

The air quality and weather bulletin for Delhi reveals that the city’s air quality was in the ‘Severe’ category with CPCB AQI of 460 at 4 PM on November 19th, 2024, lower than the AQI of 494 recorded on Monday. An AQI ranging from 0-50 is categorised as ‘good,’ 51-100 as ‘satisfactory,’ 101-200 as ‘moderate,’ 201-300 as ‘poor,’ 301-400 as ‘very poor,’ 401-450 as ‘severe,’ and above 450 as ‘severe+’.

The state governments in NCR may decide to allow public, municipal, and private offices to operate with 50% of their staff in-office, while the remaining employees work from home.

“In line with the directive from the Commission for Air Quality Management (NCR), all private institutions & corporate offices in Gurugram are advised to implement 50% work-from-home policy starting 20th Nov 2024 until further notice. This is crucial in combating "Severe+" air quality levels & supporting the GRAP measures to improve air quality in the region,” the Deputy Commissioner shared via X.