Bangladesh
Cabinet approves five-day Puja break and restores 7 November holiday
The Cabinet approved an extra holiday on 22 October, creating a five-day Puja break with the weekend. Offices will open on Saturday, 17 October to compensate. It also made 7 November an annual public holiday.
From 6 October 2026 — Daily Brief
Government employees will have a five-day break for Durga Puja after the Cabinet approved an additional holiday on 22 October, alongside a separate decision to make 7 November an annual public holiday.
The decisions were taken on 5 October at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman at the Secretariat. The Cabinet Division announced the changes following the meeting.
Puja holidays will run from 20 to 22 October. The Friday and Saturday weekend on 23–24 October extends the continuous break to five days. To compensate for the extra day off, government, autonomous and semi-autonomous offices will open on Saturday, 17 October.
The existing calendar already provided holidays on 20 October for Nabami and 21 October for Bijoya Dashami. Adding Thursday, 22 October removes the working day that would otherwise have separated those observances from the weekend.
The Cabinet also approved an annual general holiday on 7 November, designated National Revolution and Solidarity Day. It placed the observance in the Cabinet Division’s Category Ka list of national and international days.
The two decisions change the official holiday calendar. The reports reviewed did not establish separate opening arrangements for every private business or essential service.
