Gurugram: There are over 10,000 Japanese expats residing in Gurugram. Like most of the citizens, the poor air quality has also had an adverse impact on the Japanese and the foreigners who are working in the multinational companies in the city. To deal with the deadly air quality levels most of the Japanese take extended breaks from the months of September to January when the air quality is at its worse.
The movement of the professionals also is restricted during the time when the air levels are at its worse. Most of the expats are also refraining now to bring their families so that they do not their health is not affected. However, for those people who have a long posting duration of more than
three years bring their kids. Most of the parents send their children to the schools within the radius of three to five kilometres so that they are not exposed to the city's bad air. There are also some parents whose children are studying in schools in Delhi.
Most of the advertising and IT companies whose professionals suffer from respiratory ailments have already been advised to work from home. Measures are being devised in various corporate meetings of how to enhance productivity with fewer employees working in the office space. It is also been made mandatory that every office and residential unit have the high-quality air purifiers
"From the time of December to February when the air quality is at its worse the schedule is slotted for working outside the Delhi – national capital region. It is not possible to make people not attend the offices over here so we keep on mulling on measures that we are less exposed to such toxic air," said Horiuchi Ryou, a Japanese woman professional who works for a Japanese auto ancillary unit.
"Not only do we have to guard ourselves against the poisonous air but we have to also save our young children who are in their formative stages from the unhealthy air levels," said Asako Kitazawa, a homemaker
A large number of Japanese professionals are not only employed Japanese firms in Maruti Suzuki and the Honda factories but also in various Japanese construction and auto ancillary firms that have set their base in the city.
The cost of living for most of the Japanese expats is been borne by their company that has also witnessed an upward trend due to the health concerns caused by deadly levels of air pollution.
Gurugram was recently declared the worlds' most polluted city by a global environmental think tank. On his recent visit Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar also expressed concern about the city achieving this dubious tag and stated that measures to rectify the situation will be taken by the authorities.