August 28 will not be a complete lockdown day in Bengal, a state government official has said, changing afresh the shutdown roster for the month.

“Earlier, it was announced that the complete lockdown would be in place on August 27 (Thursday), August 28 (Friday) and August 31 (Monday). Since August 29 (Saturday) and August 30 (Sunday) are general holidays, it would have been a stretch of five days when everything, particularly banking operations, would have been closed. We responded to appeals made from various quarters. So, there will be no lockdown on August 28,”said the official.

The number of the complete lockdown days in August has now come down to six from the original nine. The next full lockdown days for August will be on 20 (Thursday), 21 (Friday), 27 (Thursday) and 31 (Monday).

The complete lockdown roster for August has undergone multiple changes because of national holidays and festivals. The original schedule for the month had nine complete lockdown days, which have now been lowered to six.

The BJP questioned the changes. “If prolonged weekend is the reason, why did the government not consider this before announcing the complete lockdown days?” asked Rahul Sinha, a state BJP leader.