Delhi-NCR Should Try Flexible Office Timings to Curb Traffic: CPCB

The CPCB has directed Delhi and other NCR states to implement various measures to curb traffic and pollution.

File photo of Delhi traffic.(Photo: Reuters)

The Centre informed the Supreme Court about the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) directive to Delhi and other NCR states, asking them to consider flexible office timings to reduce traffic during peak-hours, according to The Times of India.

The CPCB directions were put before a bench headed by Chief Justic of India TS Thakur.

The move was to hold the court back from imposing a green levy on diesel cars of engine capacity more than 2000 cc, and to reiterate that the Centre was taking various anti-pollution measures, the report said.

By introducing flexible office hours, the CPCB is making an effort to “reduce peak-time traffic to and from Delhi-NCR.”

The traffic comprises largely of daily commuters who work in corporate and multinational offices.

Heavy traffic moves along a busy road as it rains on the outskirts of New Delhi. (Photo: Reuters)

According to the directive placed by the Centre before the apex court, the NCR state governments have reportedly agreed on “37 steps which are to be taken in the short and long term.”

According to TOI, the measures suggested and which are to be taken by the state governments immediately include “flexi office timings, retrofitting of diesel vehicles with particulate filters, decongesting pathways, prevention of parking on roadsides and non-designated spaces” among others.

The CPCB has reportedly set a 30-day deadline for state governments to take action in terms of synchronising traffic lights, introducing “mechanised vacuum sweeping of roads” and shutting down unauthorised brick kilns.

The Delhi government, according to the report, will take action in the next two months to ban use of coal and kerosene for cooking in hotels and restaurants.

The CPCB has also reportedly given the NCR states a three-month deadline to implement certain measures like decongestion of fuelling stations, carrying out checks for adulteration, widening of roads etc.