The Delhi government has issued a directive to its departments as well as private sector offices to reduce air pollution in the city. The national capital has experienced “severe” to “severe plus” air quality levels over the past few days.

The government had announced earlier in the day that 50 percent of its staff would work from home. Environment Minister Gopal Rai had said that a meeting would be held at 1 pm to decide on the implementation of WFH mode in government offices.

The Delhi government has ordered its departments to shift to work from home mode. The government has also directed private sector offices in Delhi to follow this order. Members of essential and emergency services would be exempt from the order.

According to Rai, nearly 18 services have been exempted from this order.

The government has issued two other advisories to private sector companies: starting fleet services for their staff and starting staggered office hours. He asked businesses to reschedule office calls to 10:30-11:00 a.m.

The decisions were taken after meeting with private sector stakeholders including the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Chambers of Commerce and Industry Associates of India (ASSOCHAM).

Despite the implementation of Phase IV Phase IV Response Action Plan (GRAP) measures, Delhi’s air quality was in the ‘severe’ category at 424. However, this reading is an improvement over previous 483 on Tuesday which were in the “serious plus” category.

“If we compare the last 2 days, a slight decline is recorded in the AQI of Delhi and we hope that further improvement will be seen. Our effort is to reduce the pollution level in Delhi as much as possible, for which the government is taking many steps,” Rai said in an interview to ANI.