Islamabad : Thin attendance was observed in government and private sector organizations after Eid ul Azha holidays as people seemed to gossip on Eid celebrations, sacrificial animals and butcher issues.
The break is over, but people are still coming in a bit late, which is why there are few people here. It should be back to normal from Monday. Although the declared festival days were over the spirit and happiness persisted and people hugged their colleagues and friends warmly during their maiden encounter after the Eid ul Azha.
Most people have opted for casual leaves for Friday and Saturday to extend their Eid vacations until Sunday as the majority of them go to their native places to celebrate Eid with their loved ones and would be returning this weekend, which resulted in less staff on duty.
All the families hailing from outstations have not returned yet as they visit their native areas once or twice a year, so took extra leaves on Eid. As life is getting busy day by day and pockets of people also do not allow them to spare money so often, therefore, Eid holiday is a golden time for family reunion and it's wise enough to take extra leaves on these occasions.
The government employees had adopted their own strategy; they belonging to far-flung regions left the Rawalpindi city two days earlier and they thought of enjoying Saturday as an off day while Sunday (July 25) was their routine holiday. Thus, the offices would open formally on July 25.
Availability of transport is also one of the major problems for them. Well, we hope to see all the seats filled on Monday. The percentage of employees who return to workplaces on that day will not be less than 75 percent, and the rest of the employees will return to work as well.
A visit to different shops, medical centers, and utility service centers revealed a low number of clients. The government and private offices, business centers, small and large enterprises, corporations, banks, insurance companies, stock exchanges will reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic on Monday.
It is worth mentioning here that at every place only a skeleton staff was on duty, which was dealing with emergencies, affairs and routine work had almost stopped. Most of the shopping centers and main markets remained closed on Friday. Many of the people moving around and attending to their daily chores with their nose and mouth covered.
Islooites and Pindiites celebrated Eid ul Azha in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic and amid growing concerns about the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus. People wanted this Eid to pass by peacefully without any infections and luckily, there was no report of any serious case as all followed SOPs.