Delhi govt taking all steps to prepare for onset of 'parali', winter season: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday met OP Aggarwal, CEO of World Resources Institute (WRI), to discuss ways to implement staggering office hours to combat heavy traffic congestion and air pollution in the national capital during the crop burning and winter months.

"The Delhi government is taking all possible steps to prepare for the onset of the 'parali' and winter season. We have already announced an action plan for tackling the situation. In addition, we are also pursuing the idea of staggering office hours to cut down on vehicular emissions due to congestion. This is a tried and tested method used around the world," Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal had invited Aggarwal - an expert on transportation and urban policy issues - to discuss the means of implementing staggering office hours in Delhi's offices.

Aggarwal, a former IAS officer, was also the head of the Urban Transport Division of the Government of India. During the meeting, Kejriwal requested Aggarwal to devise a plan for staggering office timings for the government departments, read a statement.

Kejriwal asked Aggarwal on how the state government can effectively stagger office timings to tackle the problems of traffic congestion and air pollution in the city. Kejriwal also expressed his desire to bring industry associations on board since several industrial areas can also implement the staggered hours plan.

"Delhi has multiple choke points that are congested because they are on routes to offices where a large number of people travel every day. We will identify such points and routes and explore possibilities of staggering hours for those who use such arterial routes," the Chief Minister said.

WRI has been associated with the Delhi government in several route rationalisation initiatives among others, including aiding the government design staggering of office timings during the odd-even scheme.

( With inputs from ANI )