With 12-day Durga Puja break, Bengal govt employees will have more than 150 days off in 2026

Durga Puja and Kojagari Lakshmi Puja together account for a 12-day stretch of holidays next year

West Bengal state government employees will enjoy over 150 non-working days in 2026 with an extended 12-day mega break for Durga Puja. (File)

State government employees in West Bengal will have more than 150 non-working days in 2026, with an extended 12-day holiday during Durga Puja and several long festival breaks throughout the year.

According to the holiday list published by the state Finance Department, Durga Puja and Kojagari Lakshmi Puja together account for a 12-day stretch of holidays next year. Government employees have been granted leave on October 15, 16 and 17 for Chaturthi, Panchami and Sasthi. October 18, a Sunday, coincides with Maha Saptami. October 19, 20 and 21 will be holidays for Ashtami, Nabami and Dashami.

October 22, 23 and 24 have been declared as additional Puja holidays. Lakshmi Puja falls on October 25, also a Sunday, while October 26 has been marked as an additional holiday for Lakshmi Puja. In effect, government employees will have nearly half of October off.

In November too, employees will get more than 10 days of leave due to Kali Puja and Chhath.

However, in 2026, government staff will lose six festival holidays that fall on a Sunday. These include Shivaratri (February 15), Durga Puja Saptami (October 18), Lakshmi Puja (October 25), Kali Puja (November 8), Chhath Puja and Birsa Munda’s birth anniversary (November 15).

All employees get Saturdays and Sundays off.

In 2026, employees will receive 27 holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act and 26 holidays under state government orders — a total of 53 days. With 52 Saturdays and 52 Sundays in the year, the total number of non-working days crosses 150.

Santhali employees will also get a holiday on Hul Dibas on June 30.

Atri Mitra

Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More

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