Hullabaloo over holidays

As everyone else got into the holiday mood, the Punjab government's decision to slash the number of gazetted holidays in 2018 unleashed a political storm in the state. The Congress government led by Amarinder Singh has declared 18 gazetted holidays— down from 37 in 2017 — with the Opposition parties immediately labelling it ''dictatorship''. Demanding an immediate rollback of the decision, Sukhchain Singh Khaira, president, Secretariat Employees Association, said the move won't help in improving the administration and the government should take care of the public sentiment. The state government, however, maintained its decision will give a much-needed fillip to its functioning.