Govt out to please Delhi professionals

New Delhi: The Urban Development Ministry is working hard to please the Capital's residents, with its decision to include five new categories of professionals who can work from residential areas.

The move has given filmmakers like Gautam Pandey a much-awaited breather. He can now reopen his basement office at his residence in Chirag Enclave. “It is a welcome relief that we have been included in the list,'' says Pandey.

The five new entrants making it to the Small-Office Home Office (SOHO) category are:

> Engineers (including IT professionals)

> Company Secretaries

> Town Planners

> Cost and Work Accountants

> Media Professionals and Documentary Makers

And they join the older SOHO list that already allows the following to work from home:

> Doctors

> Lawyers

> Architects

> Chartered Accountants

With rent for commercial spaces in the Capital going through the roof, this decision has been welcomed by self-employed professionals.

But on what basis has the Ministry chosen to add the new five? Experts say it's not clear.

“This is so arbitrary. This gives scope for ad-hocism and confusion,'' says Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs, Dr Sreekant Gupta.

The Urban Development Ministry has managed to appease some more professionals in the city.

But not everyone's happy, especially those who think they should be but are still not on the SOHO list.

The Urban Development Ministry will have to come up with some answers for them too.

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