State government employees may have up to 16 days of continuous Puja holidays next year going by the holiday list notified on Wednesday.

The government has declared 31 days as holidays - that's two more than this year.

The Puja holidays will be from September 27 (Saptami) to September 30 (Dashami), read a finance department notification. October 1 is a Sunday and October 2 is Gandhi Jayanti.

Three additional holidays "in connection with Durga Puja" have been announced - September 26 (Sashthi) and October 3 and 4.

October 5 is Lakshmi Puja and the next day has been declared a holiday followed by the weekend on October 7 and 8. So, the number of holidays reaches 13.

Since September 25 is a Monday, chances are high that the chief minister would declare it as a holiday, a Nabanna source said. Even if she doesn't an employee can take an off. And that would mean 16 days of continuous holidays from September 23 (Saturday).

This, of course, applies to offices where Saturdays are full holidays. State government undertakings and civic bodies have a half working day on Saturday.

Holi and Muharram have fallen on Sundays. There are three sectional (restricted) holidays for Buddha Purnima (May 10), Shab-e-Barat (May 12), and Chhat Puja (October 26).