UP govt releases list of holidays for 2019

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government employees will lose two days of leave in 2019. The state government’s list of public holidays released on Tuesday has 23 public holidays for 2019 instead of 25 in 2017.

The number of holidays has come down as Holi and Mohammad Hazrat Ali’s birthday fall on the same day on March 21, 2019. Independence Day is coinciding with Raksha Bandha, on August 15.

There will, however, be six long weekends as holiday for some festivals will be observed either on Monday or Friday. As Dussehara holidays (Maha Navmi and Vijay Dashmi) will be observed on October 7 and 8, 2019 (Monday and Tuesday), the government offices will remain closed for four days continuously. If an employee decides to take two casual leaves on October 4 and 5 (Thursday and Friday), he/she can avail of sevenday leave in view of October 2 (Gandhi Jayanti) holiday.

Other long holidays include Maha Shivratri on March 4 (Monday), Good Friday (April 19), Eid-ul-Azha on August 12, (Monday), Janmasthmi on August 23 (Friday) and Goverdhan Puja on October 28, (Monday). A list of 31 restricted holidays has also been released and employees are entitled to avail any two restricted leaves. Guru Govind Singh Jayanti and Guru Teg Bahadur Shahid Divas (declared through executive order) will be on January 13 and November 24, respectively, fall on Sundays.