Delhi should adopt a uniform pattern of weekly holidays. All those markets remaining open on Sundays should be uniformly closed on Saturdays. Outsiders coming to Delhi will be sure of opening of all markets for first five working days of the week. Shopkeepers and their employees will have at least one common weekly holiday with government employees under five-day week system in government offices. However, shops of essential services like barbers; flour-mills etc may have Tuesday as common weekly holiday. When Mumbai can follow uniform weekly-off (Sunday) without any problem, Delhi can at least step for optional off on Sunday or Saturday.
To achieve greater efficiency, all offices should have a longer pre-lunch session of four hours, like in public-sector banks. Offices having limited public-dealing hours will thus find greater pre-lunch session for public-dealing leaving a shorter but hindrance-free post-lunch session exclusively for office-work. Peak-hour traffic-rush in Delhi and adjoining areas of National Capital Region (NCR) can and should be divided by having different starting hours for different institutions. For example educational institutions can start at 8.30 am, banks at 9.00 am, government-offices at 9.30 am, private-offices at 10 am, courts at 10.30 am, and shops at 11 am.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
