In connection with the celebration of Independence Day, residents of Uzbekistan will be granted an additional day off—August 31. This information was disclosed by the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction.
For employees working on a five-day work week, a four-day break is planned, running from August 29 to September 1. Employees on a six-day schedule are provided with three days off, starting from August 30 and ending on September 1.
According to the schedule for five-day week workers, August 29 will be a Saturday, and August 30 will be a Sunday; both days are days off. August 31 has been declared an additional day off, and September 1 is a public holiday.
For those working a six-day week, the days off will be August 30 (Sunday) and August 31 (additional day off), with September 1 being a public holiday.
This schedule was approved by a presidential decree dated December 24.
It should be noted that in the previous year, additional days off related to Independence Day were not established, and residents only rested on September 1. In 2018, Uzbeks received five consecutive days off for this holiday for the first time, matching the number of days allocated for New Year and Navruz. Similarly, five days of rest due to the transfer of working days were provided in 2021. In other years, the duration of the holiday varied from three to four days.
In February 2021, the president issued a document establishing the requirement that Navruz, Independence Day, New Year, as well as the religious holidays Ramadan Hayit and Kurban Hayit, must fall on at least three non-working days. The same act introduced a 'family travel leave' system lasting no less than five working days.
A nationwide campaign called 'Relevant 40 Days' is underway in Uzbekistan, coinciding with the celebration of the country's 35th anniversary of state independence. These events are scheduled from July 28 to September 6 and aim to improve the sanitary condition of settlements, raise residents' environmental awareness, and ensure timely waste removal and territory improvement.
Special headquarters have been formed in the Waste Management and Circular Economy Development Agency, as well as in its territorial departments and systemic organizations, to effectively coordinate all work. Responsible employees have been assigned to each region, round-the-clock duty shifts have been established, and daily monitoring is being conducted. Currently, the campaign covers 3604 out of the republic's total 8150 mahallas.
On average, 3 to 4 thousand units of specialized equipment and about 8–10 thousand workers are involved daily for sanitary cleaning. The daily volume of waste removed includes 16 to 20 thousand tons of municipal solid waste and 1.5 to 2 thousand tons of construction waste.
Specifically, on August 5, 2732 units of equipment and 8996 specialists were engaged, removing 18.5 thousand tons of waste in one day. Of the 64 detected equipment malfunctions, 52 were quickly resolved, 12 units were replaced, and another 155 vehicles are in reserve.
In the first ten days of the campaign, 125,526 tons of waste were deposited at 137 landfills, requiring 39,130 trips by specialized vehicles. During control over compliance with environmental legislation, 97 violations were identified, resulting in administrative fines totaling 165.4 million soms.
Ahead of the holiday, cleaning of parks, markets, recreation areas, as well as school and kindergarten territories has been intensified. Wood remaining after sanitary pruning is used to produce organic fertilizers. Additionally, specialists reviewed 327 citizen appeals regarding cleanliness, of which 275 have already been resolved locally.
