RAWALPINDI: Punjab government employees will not get a holiday today (Friday) as government officials have been asked to come to work to attend Mehfil-i-Milad functions being held in their departments.

According to a notification, the offices of the local government will remain open on Eid Miladun Nabi and the staff will not go on leave.

The PML-N government in Punjab has directed the Rawalpindi mayor, the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) and district council to arrange special events for Eid Miladun Nabi in the city. The ruling party also directed local leaders and members of parliament to ensure they attended the Eid Miladun Nabi processions and to put up party banners and posters in this regard as well.

“This year, special directives have come from the provincial government to arrange naat functions in government departments. In the past, the government would just light up buildings on the occasion,” a senior RMC official told Dawn.

He said this year, the RMC and District Council have been asked to light up public and private buildings, decorate roads and streets and main squares from government funds, conduct a special cleanliness drive and arrange naat and Quran recitation competitions.

“The RMC and district council are to install sabeel and food distribution stalls on the route of the procession and all funds are to be provided by the respective local governments,” he said.

According to a senior PML-N leader, the party has asked all MNAs, MPAs and union council chairmen to ensure they attend these functions and that Rawalpindi Mayor Sardar Naseem, who is PML-N metropolitan president, will tell the party’s Punjab chapter about the leaders who did not attend.

He said the party wants to win back support from religious parties and groups in the province after the Faizabad operation. He said Sardar Naseem, MNA Malik Abrar and former MNA Hanif Abbasi visited local seminaries on Thursday and met Barelvi leaders to inform them of the government’s preparations and the arrangements made for the processions and the naat functions.

According to the party leader, PML-N local leaders had also met with Naqeebur Rehman, custodian of Eidgah Sharif, at his house on Asghar Mall Road and offered government services for making arrangements for the main procession. The district administration led by Additional Deputy Commissioner Arif Raheem and local police also briefed him about the arrangements made.

When asked, RMC Chief Municipal Officer Khalid Javed Goraya said a Mehfi l-i-Naat had been arranged at the RMC on the directives of the provincial government which all union council chairmen and officials will attend. He said more than 10 sabeel and food distribution stalls will be installed in various areas of the city and that the RMC has finished making arrangements for the main procession.