Panchami declared holiday by state government

It may be recalled that following Mamata Banerjee’s direction, all ministers and senior officials had left no stone unturned in keeping everything operational on September 2.

At the day’s end when people had lauded the state government for foiling the strike, the Chief Minister had announced that the state government employees would be getting an additional holiday during Durga Puja for their support by attending their offices on the day of strike.

Keeping her commitment, a notification has been issued by the state finance department stating that “October 6 has been declared as a holiday on account of Durga Puja (Panchami) under the NI Act 1881”.

With declaration of the holiday on October 6, there will be holidays at a stretch for 11 days till October 16 that is the day after Lakshmi Puja. Usually the state government used to give holidays from the day of Sashthi to the day after Lakshmi Puja.

Monoranjan Kar, a state government employee, said they get holiday for such a long stretch during Durga Puja and many of them plan a tour after spending first three days of the Puja in the city. “With holiday from Panchami we can spend more time with our family members during the Puja,” he said.

Namita Chatterjee, another government employee, said: “We visit our native place in Burdwan only during the Puja. This is the only time in a year when we can meet all our relatives. So I would like to thank Chief Minister for taking the decision of allotting one more day leave to all employees during the Puja.”

It may be mentioned that a large section of employees of the state government, who need to travel a long distance to reach their offices, had stayed back in their offices on September 1 so that they can be present on the day of strike. Employees of the transport department had been busy since morning in control rooms keeping a track to ensure bus and tram services didn’t get hampered.