In an emergency meeting convened by Additional Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal, it was also decided that government employees in 14 NCR districts of the state would work from home till November 22. Private establishments were also asked to do the same. Industries, where such arrangement is not possible, will have to take special permission from the Deputy Commissioner.
Anyway, work from home was advised till 17 November in four districts of NCR. The officials involved in the meeting with Kaushal on Tuesday decided to extend it till November 22 in all the 14 districts of NCR.
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These 14 districts are Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Faridabad, Gurugram, Jhajjar, Jind, Karnal, Mahendragarh, Nuh, Palwal, Panipat, Rewari, Rohtak and Sonipat.
Officials said the reason behind promoting the work from home concept was to ensure that there are fewer vehicles on the roads. “The transport department should implement the odd-even policy in at least four districts on a trial basis from next week. However, there will be no restriction on CNG vehicles,” said an official quoting the minutes of the meeting.
The air quality has reached alarming levels across the NCR. On Saturday, the Supreme Court took note of the poor air quality in the region and directed the Center and the governments of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi to take immediate steps to reduce AQI levels, asking “how will people breathe”. ?”
Apart from the restrictions, the government also decided to impose fines on heavy vehicles carrying construction material in the open. Once challaned, vehicles will not be allowed to proceed until the amount is paid. A drive is also being planned to phase out vehicles older than 10 (petrol) and 15 (diesel) years.
Deputy Commissioner Yash Garg said that he will implement all the decisions taken in the meeting held on Tuesday.
“Decisions to reduce pollution are being taken by higher authorities. We will implement the odd-even rule keeping the rule in mind. Now that most people are working from home, implementing this scheme should not be too difficult.”
Air Quality Management Commission in NCR and surrounding areas (caqmMeanwhile, a meeting was held with representatives of Haryana and other NCR states on Tuesday to discuss an action plan on how to jointly deal with the deteriorating air quality.
“We are preparing a brief affidavit on the actions we have taken and what we plan to do. We will submit the affidavit to the Supreme Court and the CAQM. We have incorporated all the decisions taken in the meeting, such as implementation of the odd-even scheme and extension of work from home,” said Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) member secretary S Narayan.
However, several HSPCB officials were hopeful that the AQI would improve again after reaching the “severe” level. “Our AQI has gone from severe to very bad. We are hopeful that it will improve further if the construction activities are completely stopped. However, AQI also depends on meteorological conditions. Apart from restrictions, the weather conditions should also be in our favour,” said Kuldeep Singh, regional officer of HSPCB.
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