All govt facilities to remain shut for 2 days in Himachal Pradesh to mourn Manmohan Singh

Shimla: All government facilities in Himachal Pradesh will remain closed for two days -- Friday and Saturday -- to mourn the passing away of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, officials said.

All government departments, boards, corporations and educational institutions will remain closed on December 27 and 28 as a mark of respect to the departed leader, the state government said in an official statement.

These two days will be treated as paid holidays for all daily wages employees of the state government, it said.

Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation of Shimla has decided to partially postpone the Winter Carnival scheduled to be held from December 27 to January 1.

As per a notification issued by the civic body, all cultural activities scheduled during the carnival period stand postponed, while all the other scheduled programmes will be conducted by January 2.

However, all the stalls that have been put up on the Ridge will remain operational during this period, it said.

Manmohan Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, passed away on Thursday night at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He was 92.

The Congress leader, who steered the country for 10 years from 2004-2014 and helped set up the country's economic framework as finance minister before that, was a renowned name in the global financial and economic sectors.