KOLKATA: There is bad news for pensioners and those who need to visit the bank. All banks would be closed for almost half of October, the festive month.
In West Bengal a total 14 days would be bank holidays in October, making it the most in a month in this Covidhit year. Apart from Sundays (five this month) and two Saturdays (2nd and 4th), there are bank holidays on Gandhi Jayanti, Mahalaya, Lakshmi Puja and Durga Puja (four days).
An official of a leading public sector bank said that during the Durga Puja month, banks are generally closed for 13 days, but this time it is one day more because of the extra Sunday. Next month, the Sundays are October 3,10,17, 24 and 31, while two Saturdays are October 9 and
23. Gandhi Jayanti falls on the first Saturday of the month which otherwise is a working Saturday for banks. Durga Puja is from October 12 to 15 while Lakshmi Puja is on October 20.
Incidentally, banks are now operating as per normal hours from September 1. The state government issued a circular on September 1 saying the banks and financial institutions would operate as per normal hours.
The CGM of PNB, Nabin Chandra Dash, the SLBC convenor for Bengal, had earlier said this implied that normal working hours of banks from 10am to 4pm would now start again. “So customers can avail of banking activities till 4pm and the office would remain open till 5pm,” he added.
