Delhi Air Pollution: Not in favour of work from home, Centre informs SC

Delhi Air Quality and Pollution: The Central government on Wednesday expressed its unwillingness before the Supreme Court to ask its employees to work from home and instead it has advised its employees in the national capital to resort to carpooling to reduce the number of vehicles used by them for commuting.

The Centre through an affidavit told the Apex Court that the number of vehicles used by the Central government is a minuscule fraction of the total vehicles in the national capital and stopping their plying would not make much impact towards improving the air quality of Delhi.

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The Centre in its affidavit point outs directives issued by the Commission for air quality management for Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas that included a ban on entry of trucks in Delhi till November 21 except trucks carrying essential commodities, closure of thermal plants, ban on construction and demolition activities, deployed anti-smog guns and water sprinklers etc.

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The Central Government has also considered the possibility of functioning under online mode i.e. "work from home".

In this regard, it is submitted that in the recent past, several governmental functions were impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic for substantially a long period of time which entailed pan India ramifications.

Instead, the Department of Personnel and Training Government of India has issued an advisory for Central Government officers and staff for pooling and sharing of vehicles to the maximum extent possible so that number of Central Government vehicles plying for commuting of officers and staff are reduced substantially.

-PTC News