Eid holiday is 6 days!

The Dhaka Times Desk The government is going to make the Eid holiday 6 days. It can be effective from the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha. However, the matter is not finalized yet.

It must be said that it is really good news for government officials and employees. The current government is planning to make the Eid holiday 6 days from now. It can be effective from the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha. At present government employees get 3 days off on Eid. This initiative has been taken to extend the leave for the employees to reach home comfortably on Eid. A proposal to extend the Eid holiday has already been sent from the Ministry of Public Administration to the Prime Minister's Office. This proposal will be presented in the cabinet meeting after getting the approval of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The news media gave this information citing a government source.

It has been said that if this proposal is approved, the Eid holiday will start on Wednesday, August 30 and end on Monday, September 4. However, the weekend will be effective as Eid holiday. In total, the government employees will get 6 days of Eid leave (August 30 to September 4). All government, semi-government, autonomous, semi-autonomous institutions will be closed for these 6 days. It is said that this extra Eid holiday will be deducted from the employees' optional leave.

In this regard, the senior secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration. Mozammel Haque Khan told the media that a proposal to extend Eid holidays has been given at the highest level of the government considering the actual context. It will be presented at the highest forum only after the policy decision is taken from there. Leave order will be issued if approved here. Otherwise the leave will remain as per the existing rules.

He also said that if the government decides to extend the leave, the scheduled leave of the year will remain the same. Additional leave will be deducted from the employee's optional leave. In other words, only optional holidays will be combined with Eid holidays.

সংবাদ মাধ্যমকে সংশ্লিষ্টরা জানান, সব ঠিকঠাক থাকলে এবার ঈদুল আজহা পালন হবে ২ সেপ্টেম্বর শনিবার। ঈদের দিন ও তার আগের দিন পড়ছে সাপ্তাহিক ছুটি। যে কারণে বিদ্যমান নিয়মে এবার ৩ দিন ঈদের ছুটি থাকলে এর দু’দিনই পড়ছে সাপ্তাহিক ছুটির মধ্যে। বাড়তি কোনো ছুটিই পাচ্ছেন না সরকারি চাকরিজীবীরা। চাকরিজীবীরা বৃহস্পতিবার অফিস শেষ করে বাড়ির দিকে রওনা হতে পারবেন। আবার সোমবারে অফিস খোলা থাকায় ঈদের পরের দিন রবিবার ঢাকামুখী হতে হবে। এতে একসঙ্গে রাস্তাঘাট, ফেরি, লঞ্চ, রেলের ওপর ব্যাপক চাপ বাড়বে। মানুষের দুর্ভোগের আর শেষ থাকবে না। এমনকি গ্রামের সড়কও বর্তমানে বর্ষার কারণে বেহাল অবস্থা। তারপর এতো চাপ মোকাবেলা করা প্রশাসনের পক্ষে কঠিন হয়ে পড়বে। সড়ক দুর্ঘটনার সংখ্যা বাড়ারও আশঙ্কা থেকে যাচ্ছে। যে কারণে চাকরিজীবীদের নির্বিঘ্নে বাড়ি পৌঁছাতে ঈদের ছুটি বাড়ানো হচ্ছে।

It is to be noted that the demand of extension of leave on Eid is a long-standing demand of government employees. In 2010, the Ministry of Public Administration made a proposal to make Eid-ul-Fitr public holiday 5 days instead of 3 days. But later it was rejected. The Ministry of Public Administration made a proposal to make the last Eid-ul-Fitr holiday also 6 days. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also agreed to it; However, the proposal to extend the leave was not effective as the budget session was in session at that time. This time, taking into consideration the demands of the government employees and so that the homebound people can travel smoothly during Eid, a proposal has been made to extend the leave. Every year the office-court is closed for 159 days. This includes 104 days of weekly holidays. Other holidays 55 days.