Delhi govt discontinues non-essential services, staff to work from home

The Delhi government on Friday decided to discontinue its non-essential services till March 31 and allowed workers of such departments to work from home.

The Delhi Assembly has also asked in-charges to prepare duty rosters for their staff to come to work on a rotation basis till March end.

The decision to discontinue non-essential services was taken during a meeting between Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and all the heads of government departments.

"It has been decided to discontinue non-essential services of the Delhi government till March 31. All employees of non-essential services have been allowed to work from home," a statement said.

In essential services, employees aged above 55 years can also work from home, which will be decided by the heads of departments, it said.

Department heads have been asked to prepare lists of workers who can be permitted to work from home. All employees, including those working on contractual basis, will be paid during this period.

"There is a sudden spike in the number of corona (virus) cases in Delhi in the last 24 hours. All officials and the people of Delhi have fought this battle very hard, because of which we have been able to contain the disease at the community level. But there is a need to expedite our efforts to combat the situation," Kejriwal said.

"The health of our officials and employees is very important... Employees who are aged above 55 should preferably be given work from home. However, we will not be able to relieve senior people in the most essential services, like doctors, etc," he said.

The chief minister said those who will work from home must ensure their availability over the phone.

"This is not a paid leave but work from home. During this period people will work from home and there will be no deduction of salary," he said.

The coronavirus epidemic has claimed one life and infected 16 people in Delhi.