The Bengal government is planning to reduce its employees’ public holidays by 8 to 10 days from 2027, with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari directing the finance department to bring the annual total down to about 40 days. The move is intended to address a backlog of official paperwork and speed up government services, according to a report by the Times of India.
Adhikari said he had asked Additional Chief Secretary of the Finance Department Prabhat Mishra to revise the proposed holiday list. The finance department had submitted a list containing 45 holidays, but the chief minister asked for the figure to be reduced further to 40.
“I had called the finance secretary and told him that the number of holidays must be reduced. He submitted a list of 45 days. I told him to bring it down to 40,” Adhikari told reporters at Nabanna on Wednesday, according to the report.
The chief minister linked the proposed reduction to a “huge backlog” of paperwork across government departments. He said restoring a healthy work culture in government offices was necessary to clear pending files and ensure faster delivery of public services.
The government has not yet specified which festivals or other occasions could be removed from the 2027 holiday calendar. A Nabanna official said the administration was working to finalise the list and expected to release it within the month after receiving the chief minister’s final approval.
The proposed revision follows a steady expansion of the state government’s holiday calendar during the previous Trinamool Congress government, when additional holidays were announced at different points. The number of holidays subsequently reached around 50 days in a calendar year.
The 2026 holiday list, notified by the finance department in November 2025, includes 25 holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act and 22 holidays under state government orders. Together, these provisions account for 47 listed holidays, while the government has described the broader annual holiday count as being around 50.
The revised 2027 list will determine whether the proposed reduction is applied across the government calendar and which occasions are affected. The list is expected to be issued after the finance department completes its review and obtains final approval from the chief minister.
