State govt declares holiday on Chhat Puja

Kolkata: The state government has declared holiday on the day of Chhat Puja. This is the first time that a holiday has been declared for all state government employees on the day of Chhat Puja. There used to be sectional holiday on the day of Chhat Puja till last year.

This year, Chhat Puja is on October 26. As per a notification issued by the state Finance department on October 10: "…the Governor is pleased to declare October 26 (Thursday) as a holiday on Corporations and Undertakings controlled or owned by state government, educational institutions, etc all over the state with the exception of the offices of Registrar of Assurances, Kolkata and the Collector of Stamp Revenue, Kolkata." The state government employees have expressed their satisfaction over the decision of declaring Chhat Puja as a holiday. It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had already made the announcement while addressing a programme of the Paschim Banga Rajya Sarkar Karmachari Federation at Nazrul Mancha on September 7 that there will be an increase in total number of holidays from 27 to 35 days in 2018 compared to that of in 2017 and it includes at a stretch holiday of 13 days during Durga Puja in 2018. It may go up to 16 days if an employee takes a leave for a day on October 26, 2018. Besides announcing holidays, the Mamata Banerjee-government has taken several initiatives for betterment of employees.