The holiday began on October 3 (Maha Saptami) and officially ended on October 9, got extended unofficially till October 12, even on October 13 and 14 very few people could be seen in the corridors.
From October 1 till which day? Nobody knows for sure. The Writers’ Buildings — the secretariat building of the West Bengal government — enjoyed almost an unending spell of Puja holiday.
Till last Friday, it wore a deserted look.
The holiday began on October 3 (Maha Saptami) and officially ended on October 9. However, it got extended unofficially till October 12 (Maha Lakshmi Puja), and even on October 13 and 14 very few people could be seen in the corridors.
“We have been following the tradition right from the days of the British,” said an old state government employee. “Blame the calendar, not us. Maha Panchami was on Saturday and Maha Sashti on Sunday.”
A veteran journalist, now retired, who began his Writers’ reporting from the days of BC Roy, said the holiday has always been for four days, from Maha Saptumi till Vijaya Dushomi. “For Maha Lakshmi Puja, we had a separate holiday,” he added.
However, what emerges from this is that despite a political change, Writers’ has not changed. “How can you say that it reflected poorly on our work culture? You cannot blame the government for this,” said a CPI(M)-affiliated coordination committee leader. The leaders of Trinamool Congress-affiliated associations in Writers’ were unavailable for comment.
Though some top officials and their staff were present, barring on the last day of Durga Puja, on other days they had a serious problem in getting staff to attend to duties. “It is only us who never get any offs,” said a police officer with a smile.
Also, with the state government workers angry over “non-payment of dues”, the holiday may get extended till Kali Puja - Diwali!
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