New Delhi, November 25, 2025: In a stern measure to combat alarmingly high air pollution, the Delhi government has ordered all government and private offices to operate with only 50% of their staff physically present on-site, with the remaining workforce required to work from home (WFH). This directive falls under Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which was recently enforced by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM).
The government’s order explicitly mandates all departments to ensure strict adherence to the 50% attendance cap to significantly reduce vehicular movement and curb pollution across the National Capital Territory. For government offices, while administrative secretaries and department heads will continue to work from the office regularly, the total staff presence must not exceed the specified limit, though department heads retain the discretion to call additional staff only when absolutely necessary. Private offices across Delhi must similarly ensure that no more than half of their employees are physically present. These private establishments have also been advised to implement staggered timings and strictly enforce WFH norms to further ease daily commuting traffic.
This emergency decision comes as Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) continues to languish in the “very poor” to “severe” categories. On Monday morning, the city officially recorded an AQI of 396, while Swiss monitoring firm IQAir reported a reading of 418, placing the air quality firmly in the hazardous “severe” zone. Compounding the air quality crisis, temperatures continue to fall, with Monday’s minimum settling at 9.3°C, though the maximum temperature is expected to remain around 27–28°C.
