NOIDA: Industrial units, shops and markets in Noida and Greater Noida must follow a staggered weekly closing roster from January 1 to follow a new decongestion plan that the Gautam Budh Nagar district administration unveiled on Wednesday.
The order, which comes into effect from January 1, leaves multinational companies and Indian corporate houses, media firms, IT and media firms and essential services out of its ambit. The administration has also requested schools to slightly tweak their timings and malls to open after 12pm, but it's not legally binding on them to do so.
Some schools have responded by either advancing or delaying the usual 8am start by half an hour, but malls are unlikely to do so as morning shows of movies start as early as 9am. The administration, however, is optimistic that staggered weekly closures of industries and markets will go a long way in decongesting the city's roads and rein in air pollution caused by congestion.
District magistrate N P Singh and police chief Kiran S on Wednesday held a press conference and announced that a consensus has been arrived at after several meetings with representatives from industrial houses, the transport department, traffic police and residents.
"We have divided the entire district into seven zones. Industrial units, shops and markets will close on rotation from Sunday to Saturday in Noida and Greater Noida. They have also made changes in their office timings to ensure smooth traffic system during peak hours," Singh said.
The order, which comes into effect from January 1, leaves multinational companies and Indian corporate houses, media firms, IT and media firms and essential services out of its ambit. The administration has also requested schools to slightly tweak their timings and malls to open after 12pm, but it's not legally binding on them to do so.
Some schools have responded by either advancing or delaying the usual 8am start by half an hour, but malls are unlikely to do so as morning shows of movies start as early as 9am. The administration, however, is optimistic that staggered weekly closures of industries and markets will go a long way in decongesting the city's roads and rein in air pollution caused by congestion.
District magistrate N P Singh and police chief Kiran S on Wednesday held a press conference and announced that a consensus has been arrived at after several meetings with representatives from industrial houses, the transport department, traffic police and residents.
"We have divided the entire district into seven zones. Industrial units, shops and markets will close on rotation from Sunday to Saturday in Noida and Greater Noida. They have also made changes in their office timings to ensure smooth traffic system during peak hours," Singh said.
According to the plan, industrial units in sectors 1, 3, 15, 16, 68, 80, 90, Barolla, Nithari, Morna and Nayabas will remain closed on Monday.
Sectors 2, 4, 18, 22, 23, 37, 41, 50, 58, 69, 81, 89, Vishanpura, Agahpur and Challera will remain closed on Tuesday.
Sectors 5, 7, 27, 28, 29, 59, 67, 83, 88, 110, Harola, Atta, and Bhangel will remain closed on Wednesday. Similar plans have been drawn up for the remaining .
In Greater Noida, markets in sectors Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Jagat Farm will remain closed on Tuesday. Factories have made slight changes to their workday schedules as well.
Those in sectors 1-6, 57, 58, 63, 66, 80, 81 and Phase II will remain open from 8.30am to 5.30pm.
Factories in sectors 7-11, 83-88, 59, 60, 64, 65, 67 and 68 will be open from 9am to 6pm.
Vipin Malhan, president of Noida Entrepreneurship Association (NEA), said that this was a welcome step by the administration. "We had a meeting with the administration and agreed to the systematic closure of factories. It is important for environment safety. It may cause inconvenience to people initially but they will soon become used to the new schedule," he said.
Seven schools, including Somerville School, Vishwa Bharti Public School, Cambridge Public School, Khaitan Public School and Nehru Public School, have advanced or postponed their timings by half an hour. Earlier, all the schools opened at 8am.
Kiran S said police will ensure the new rule was enforced and followed properly. "The PCR teams will patrol sectors which are supposed to shut down during the fixed days to ensure its enforcement," he said.
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