Parliament declares holiday on January 1 on the occasion of New Year

New Delhi, Dec 30: Parliament will have a long weekend this year-end and resume work on January 2, as both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha today decided to have a holiday on the first day of 2018.

In the Lok Sabha, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan announced in the afternoon that there would be no sitting of the house on January 1 as decided by the Business Advisory Committee.

Making the announcement in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said political parties and several members, especially those from the northeast, had urged that January 1 be declared a holiday.

Accordingly, Rajya Sabha would not sit on January 1 and the loss of business would be compensated by putting in extra hours on the remaining days of the ongoing winter session, he said as the Question Hour came to a close.

Saturdays and Sundays are holidays for Parliament. The Winter Session ends on January 5.