Govt restores Saturday’s holiday in public sector offices

The federal government has restored a two-day weekend by reinstating Saturday as a holiday in public sector offices.

In this respect, a proposal was put forward to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at a federal cabinet meeting held yesterday in Islamabad.

The proposal was sent by the Power Division as part of its energy conservation plan to address a growing electricity shortage.

In addition, the Power Division has also proposed various measures, including changes to market hours.

The development came one day after the Minister of Defense, Khawaja Asif, proposed to the government to promulgate a 4.5-day workweek and to declare Friday half-day and Saturday and Sunday as holidays.

It is noteworthy here that a similar summary was sent to the federal cabinet a couple of weeks ago.

However, the Prime Minister rejected the proposal at the cabinet meeting held prior to his departure for Turkey on a three-day state visit.

Shortly after being elected earlier in April, Prime Minister Shehbaz had ordered to end of Saturday’s holiday, saying that only Sunday will be observed as a holiday in government offices and educational institutes.