Silchar, Aug. 27: Assam BJP spokesperson Rajdeep Roy today said the state government has decided to increase the number of holidays for Durga Puja from four days to nine days across Barak Valley.

Roy said Assam education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had spoken to him last evening, during which Sarma had told him the number of holidays during Durga Puja in the valley would be for nine days - from September 27 to October 5.

Asked if the government is considering revoking its decision on scrapping holidays like Manasa Puja, Chhath Puja, Shivratri, Fateha-Dohaz-Daham and others, Roy said nothing has been finalised yet.

The central committee of the All Cachar Karimganj Hailakandi Students' Association, which had threatened protests across the valley over the scrapping of holidays, organised a news conference at its office here this afternoon.

Adviser to the central committee of the association, Rupam Nandi Purkayastha, told reporters that the association welcomes the step taken by the government to increase the number of holidays during Durga Puja by five days, but wants the academic calendar to be revised back to how it was earlier for Barak Valley.

Earlier, the number of holidays for Durga Puja used to be for 20 days in Barak Valley, but the government had reduced it to just four days.

Asked if the association would cancel its students' convention, scheduled to be organised within the second week of September in Karimganj, where the decision on when to start the protest would be taken, Purkayastha dismissed the chances of cancelling the movement and said the association would not remain silent till the government fulfils its demand to reintroduce the earlier academic calendar.

He mentioned that the academic calendar is not the only issue the association has been raising its voice against and there are other issues too, including recognition and financial help to the families of the 1961 Bengali Language Movement martyrs and update of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in accordance with the 2014 voter list.

Purkayastha alleged the government took the decision to recognise the martyrs of Assam Agitation and render financial help to the martyrs' families under the influence of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU), which wants to establish/maintain its cultural aggression (Assamese) all over the state.

Silchar MLA and the Deputy Speaker Dilip Kumar Paul told The Telegraph this afternoon that the government's decision to increase the number of holidays for Durga Puja was "expected" and said he welcomes it warmly.

He said the government accords both the Brahmaputra Valley and the Barak Valley equal importance.