The BJP government in Bengal has cancelled an additional holiday for Eid-al-Adha announced by the previous Trinamool Congress administration and restricted the holiday to the day of the festival.
The previous government had announced holidays on May 26 and 27 for Eid-al-Adha. The festival was to fall on May 27 and the erstwhile government had announced an additional holiday.
“Now, information has been received that Eid-al-Adha will be observed on May 28. The state government declared May 28 as a holiday, but cancelled holidays on May 26 and 27 through a notification. So, the holiday on Eid-al-Adha would now be a one-day affair, instead of two days,” said an official.
A section of officials said that the move could be considered positive if the decision was taken to restore the lost work culture in the state.
“It would not be good if it were done only because Eid-al-Adha is observed by the Muslims. Additional holidays were announced for Durga Puja, Kali Puja and Saraswati Puja by the previous government. It needs to be seen what the new government’s approach towards such holidays is,” said an official.
The Mamata Banerjee government had given additional holidays before and after religious festivals to stretch the holidays for a longer period.
“For example, the previous government had introduced holidays on Ekadashi, Dwadashi and the day before Lakshmi Puja to stretch the Durga Puja holidays to nine to 10 days. Similarly, additional holidays were announced before and after Kali Puja, Saraswati Puja and other religious festivals. This had certainly left an impact on the work culture in the state,” said an official.
Another official said there was nothing wrong if the new government wanted to cut down on holidays.
“The first step to restore the work culture in the state would be cutting down the additional holidays announced before or after the religious festivals by the previous government. But it should not be restricted to the festivals of a certain community,” said the official.
According to sources, the previous government had announced at least 14 additional holidays before and after the festivals.
“If these 14 holidays are declared cancelled, it would definitely help the government bring back the work culture to some extent,” a bureaucrat said.
Health scheme
The Bengal government will include six crore beneficiaries of Swasthya Sathi in the Ayushman Bharat scheme of the Centre by July-end, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Saturday at Nabanna after holding a video conference with Union health minister J.P. Nadda.
The beneficiaries of Swasthya Sathi and those who were not availing of it will be able to apply for the Centre’s scheme, and a registration portal will be opened soon.
The chief minister has said four districts — Alipurduar, Kalimpong, South Dinajpur and West Burdwan — have no medical colleges. The state will send a proposal to the Centre for sanctioning medical colleges in these districts.
The state will also send a proposal to the Centre to establish an AIIMS in north Bengal.