Delhi pollution: 50% WFH ordered in city govt, pvt offices from today; construction workers to get Rs 10,000

NEW DELHI: Delhi govt Wednesday mandated city offices - Delhi govt and private - to function with a maximum of 50% staff in the workplace and the rest working from home starting Thursday, as a measure to reduce pollution.Delhi labour minister Kapil Mishra said, "Establishments will have to strictly enforce work-from-home norms and motivate employees for car-pooling". Later in the day, labour department issued an advisory reiterating the curbs, adding that "non-compliance is punishable under sections 15 and 16 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and other applicable laws".The WFH provisions won't apply to essential services, including hospitals, fire services, prisons, public transport, electricity services, pollution control, forest department and Delhi Jal Board.The govt also announced that it will pay Rs 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. "It is not necessary that all staff come and go at the same time; the establishments can stagger this a bit," he said. During the period of Grap restrictions last month, Nov 11 to Nov 26, 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 Rs 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."Under the ongoing registration process for construction workers, verification is being conducted simultaneously. The process consists of two stages - registration and verification - and the labour department is carrying out this work with full seriousness and capacity. As and when the verification process is completed, the assistance amount of Rs 10,000 will be transferred directly to the beneficiaries' bank accounts," Mishra said.The minister hit out at the previous AAP govt "for playing politics on pollution". "When the previous govt was in power, its ministers were rarely seen on the ground and failed to take concrete steps to address pollution. The dust, potholes, broken roads and filth currently visible in Delhi are the outcome of 13 years of negligence, not just the past few months," Mishra said.