State govt announces 2-day holiday for Holi 2018, employees laud move

Kolkata: There will be a holiday for four days at a stretch during Holi with the state government announcing two days' leave on March 1 and 2 in 2018.

As per a notification issued by the state government, there will be holidays for Holi on March 1 and 2 in 2018 that are on Thursday and Friday. The offices on March 3, 2018 (Saturday) and March 4, 2018 (Sunday) will remain holiday as usual. The state government employees appreciated the move of giving two-day leave during Holi and it also ensured a four-day long holiday at a stretch till Sunday.

The notification reads as "…scheduled holiday on occasion of Doljatra may be read as March 1, Thursday in place of March 2 Friday and scheduled holiday after the day of Doljatra (Holi) as March 2 in place of March 3, Saturday respectively."

This comes at the time when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taken up several initiatives for the benefits of the state government employees.

It may be mentioned that the Chief Minister had made an announcement in a conference of the Paschim Banga Rajya Sarkar Karmachari Federation at Nazrul Mancha on September 7 that the total number of holidays in 2018 will increase to 35 days which was 27 in 2017. Accordingly, a notification in this regard was issued by the state government on September 22 stating the increase in total number of holidays by eight days. During Durga Puja in 2018, there will be a holiday at a stretch for 13 days and it may also go up to 16 days if one takes a leave only for one day in between; that is on October 26 in 2018.