Amid growing concerns over the economic impact of the Middle East war, the Delhi government has approved a series of austerity measures in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for resource conservation. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Thursday announced that government employees would be allowed to work from home for two days a week in a bid to reduce fuel consumption and electricity usage in government offices.
As part of the measures, the Delhi government has declared every Monday as “Monday Metro Day,” making it mandatory for ministers, IAS officers, and government employees to use Metro rail services for official commuting. To support employees, the government also announced a 10 percent hike in transport allowance. In another major decision, the administration imposed a six-month ban on the purchase of new government vehicles, including petrol, diesel, and electric cars.
The Chief Minister also significantly downsized her official convoy, reducing the number of vehicles by nearly 60 percent and limiting it to just four vehicles, two of them fully electric. Additionally, the Delhi government has imposed a one-year ban on all official foreign tours by ministers and senior government officials as part of its cost-cutting drive.
Meanwhile, the Tripura government has introduced similar restrictions to reduce administrative expenditure. The state government has implemented a 50 percent work-from-home policy for government employees with immediate effect.
Under the new guidelines, only 50 percent of Group-C and Group-D employees in the Secretariat and various government departments will attend offices on a rotational basis, while the remaining staff will work remotely from home.