Rajkumar Bafna, the finance head of Akums Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, resigns citing Delhi's air pollution (File Photo)
Rajkumar Bafna, the finance head of Akums Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, has resigned from his position due to the air pollution crisis in New Delhi. According to an exchange filing, Bafna submitted his resignation on December 28.
“I would like to inform you that due Delhi Pollution level I am resigning from my position as President Finance. Kindly relieve me asap. If I can be any help during this transition Pls let me know,” Bafna wrote in his resignation email.
The company acknowledged the resignation on December 12 and confirmed he would be officially relieved of his duties on December 31.
According to a senior company official, Bafna was experiencing a persistent cough and other health issues triggered by pollution. “Bafna has lived in Mumbai and worked for us for approximately six months. I think for people who aren’t born in the city, it gets very difficult to cope with the pollution here. Yes, he cited pollution as the reason for his resignation. He must be used to a different environment, and bad air here must have affected him,” The Times of India quoted Sanjeev Jain, co-founder and managing director of Akums Drugs, as saying.
Jain further shared that one of his friends’ children moved to Bengaluru due to the worsening air quality in Delhi. “There’s a sense of fear about how things will be, about what it will be like. Mentally, I think it’s one of the biggest challenges,” he added.
Delhi’s air quality deteriorated further Sunday, surging close to the ‘Severe’ category as the Air Quality Index (AQI) rose to 390 from 385 a day earlier. In Noida, air pollution remained firmly in the ‘Severe’ range, with the AQI increasing to 419 from 409. Gurgaon also witnessed a sharp decline in air quality, slipping into the ‘Very Poor’ category as the AQI jumped to 352, up from 299 the previous day.
Meanwhile, the meteorological department has issued an orange alert for very dense fog on Monday. Daytime and nighttime temperatures are expected to remain around 22 degrees Celsius and 7 degrees Celsius, respectively.