Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has opposed the decision of the federal government to have two weekly holidays, but he did not consider the fact that the Punjab Accountant General’s Office, which is run by the federal government, will remain closed for two days, leaving all Punjab government departments to virtually stop their operations, sources told Pakistan Today on Thursday.
All 36 districts of Punjab and their offices are at the mercy of the AG’s Office and would have no option but to wait it out every Saturday. The AG office is responsible for clearing cheques and payments of the Punjab government departments and every department of each district has to contact the AG Office to get payments cleared.
The Punjab Finance department coordinates with the AG Office, which is responsible for maintaining the accounts of the province and also disbursing the payments. Interestingly, all departments of the Punjab government have to contact the Punjab Finance Department and AG Office for getting their cheques cleared, but with the AG Office closed on Saturday, all departments would have to wait until the next working day for the same.
Punjab govt to ‘virtually’ observe 2-day weekly holidays
