Love for handloom yet to pick up in government offices

January 04, 2013 11:58 am | Updated 12:00 pm IST - KOCHI

An official wears a khadi shirt ata government office in Kochi on Wednesday. Photo: K.K. Mustafah

An official wears a khadi shirt ata government office in Kochi on Wednesday. Photo: K.K. Mustafah

The Father of the Nation has been mute witness to many corrupt practices taking place right under his gaze in government offices considering the ubiquitous presence of Gandhi portrait in most offices.

For once, he might have something to cheer about these offices, at least the way the employees turn up, if the government direction asking its employees to wear Khadi or other handloom wear to offices on Wednesdays is complied with.

The first signs were not that encouraging going by the response in government offices on the first Wednesday after the proposal was mooted by the government. Those wearing handloom attires were few and far between in most government offices in the city.

Most of them took refuge in the excuse that the government order (GO) giving official seal to the direction was not yet forthcoming.

Additional District Magistrate B. Ramachandran confirmed that the GO indeed is being awaited and that it is expected by next week. “Once we receive the GO we will definitely monitor to make sure that it is strictly complied with. It needs to taken seriously as the government decision is intended to promote handloom,” he said.

Roy, a civil station employee, said that he is doubtful about the effectiveness of implementation though he is personally in favour of the direction.

“A similar initiative introduced by the previous government directing employees to wear dhoti or other handloom dresses on Saturdays had gradually petered out,” he recollected.

Mr. Ramachandran, however, allayed this fear stating that the implementation is likely to be more effective this time considering the choice of the day, which falls in the middle of the week, Employees had the tendency to take leave on Saturdays to have extended weekends and as such the implementation was slack.

Seema, one of the rare employees to come clad in a sari instead of her chosen churidar on Wednesday in compliance with the government instruction, however, secretly admitted that while the sari is a handloom look alike it is actually not one.

She said that many of her colleagues were fence sitters adopting a wait and watch approach. Then there are others who have sought more time to get their handloom attires either tailored or bought.

Reghu, another government employee, who had never wore dhoti to office since joining service wonders whether he will have to change his sartorial style soon.

Is it mandatory to wear a dhoti or will a handloom shirt will do, he was confused.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.