Change in office timings of central government employees, new advisory issued due to pollution

Office Timings Change: Strictness regarding increasing air pollution in Delhi-NCR is continuously increasing. Meanwhile, the central government on Thursday changed the working hours for its employees. Orders in this regard have been issued by the Union Ministry of Personnel (DoPT). Accordingly, the Center announced different working hours for its employees in view of the severe air pollution in Delhi.

change in office hours

This order states that in view of the severity of air pollution in Delhi, offices of various ministries, departments and organizations of the Central Government can remain open from 9 am to 5.30 pm and from 10 am to 6.30 pm.

Advice for public transport

The order states that officers/employees should reduce the use of their personal vehicles and use public transport. It has also been advised to resort to vehicle pooling and use public transport as much as possible. So that pollution caused by vehicles can be reduced.

In fact, the Central Secretariat Association had appealed to DoPT to take immediate action for the safety of employees amid dangerous pollution levels, in which…

1- All central government offices located in Delhi-NCR were appealed to work from home (WFH) or to work at different times. There was talk of installing an air purifier in the office.

2. All officers were asked to be given N95 masks.

3. It was said that this would promote carpooling and public transportation.

4. Asked for regular health checkups and awareness.

Let us tell you that a day before, in view of the increasing pollution in Delhi-NCR, the Central Government had taken a big decision. Under this, CAQM (Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas) has amended the GRAP rules.

Now with the implementation of the third and fourth phases of GRAP, it has become mandatory to close physical classes in schools. Earlier the state government had the right to do this or not. As per the changed rules, when GRAP-III comes into force, physical classes up to class 5 will be stopped. That means then studies will be online.

At the same time, once GRAP-IV is implemented, education up to class 10th will shift to online mode. That means students up to that class will not have to go to school. Till now the rule was that states had to decide whether to open schools or run classes in online mode.