Delhi orders 50% work-from-home in city govt, pvt offices from today

New Delhi: Delhi govt on Wednesday mandated offices in the capital - Delhi govt and private - to function with a maximum of 50% of their employees in the workplace and the rest working from home starting Thursday, as a measure to reduce pollution in the city.Delhi labour minister Kapil Mishra said "establishments will have to strictly enforce the work-from-home norms and also motivate employees for car-pooling". Later in the day, the labour department issued an advisory reiterating the restrictions, adding that "non-compliance is punishable under sections 15 and 16 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and other applicable laws".The WFH provisions will not apply to essential services, including hospitals and health services, fire services, prison administration, public transport, electricity services, pollution control departments, forest department and Delhi Jal Board.The govt also announced that it will pay 10,000 to each of the registered construction workers in Delhi because of the 16-day halt in construction work due to Grap provisions aimed at curbing air pollution.In response to worsening air quality, Delhi govt has imposed Grap 4, the highest and strictest stage of Delhi-NCR's pollution control plan. Under Grap 4, construction and demolition activities have been banned, diesel trucks not carrying essential goods have been barred from entering Delhi and govt has announced it will not give fuel to non-PUC compliant vehicles.

Mishra said in addition to making 50% WFH mandatory, offices are also being encouraged to adopt flexible working hours.During the period of Grap restrictions last month, construction activities in Delhi were suspended, which adversely affected the livelihoods of daily-wage construction workers. "Taking this concern into account, Delhi govt has decided to compensate workers for the loss of income caused by the suspension of construction work. Accordingly, financial assistance of 10,000 will be provided to registered and verified construction workers," Kapil Mishra said.

As of Dec 17, Delhi has 2,57,244 workers are registered with Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare. The registrations are a continuous process.