Mumbai: No jeans, T-shirts and slippers. Khadi clothes once a week. These are some of the rules of a formal dress code the Maharashtra government has framed for all its employees and officials, including those on contract or hired as consultants.
Earlier this week Monday, the general administration department of the state government issued a resolution putting in place a strict dress code for all its employees, saying they are representatives of the State and an inappropriate dress code can malign the image of the government in the minds of the people.
The resolution read: “It has been seen that a lot of officials and employees working in government offices, especially those on contract or those appointed as consultants do not wear clothes that are appropriate for a government employee during office hours. As a result, the image of government officials in the society takes a beating.”
“If a government official’s dress code is inappropriate, shoddy or unclean then it also has an indirect effect on his or her overall work,” the government resolution, signed by Principal Secretary Shrikant Deshpande, added.
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The dress code
According to the new dress code, all women employees are expected to wear either sarees, salwar kameez or chudidars, a dupatta, or formal trousers with either a kurta or a formal shirt. Men are expected to wear a formal shirt with trousers.
Men and women employees alike are banned from wearing jeans and T-shirts or dark coloured, printed or embroidered clothes.
The order also details the kind of footwear employees are expected to wear — formal shoes or sandals, and definitely no slippers.
Moreover, to encourage the use of khadi, the state government has also asked employees to wear khadi clothes at least once a week.
‘Employees represent the state government’
The Maharashtra government order said that employees or officials are representatives of the state government when they meet different stakeholders such as MPs, MLAs, corporators and other public representatives, members of the general public, as well as representatives and high-ranking executives of private entities.
“During such meetings, as representatives of the government, the clothes of the government officials and employees is seen as an important part of their personality. It creates a particular impression in the minds of the people who have come to meet them,” the state government resolution said.
“So while working in government offices, all employees in the office should be aware of their personalities and their dress code, and should take care that their clothing is at least appropriate for a government official,” it added.
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Maharashtra does not have any presssing problems such as the rampaging virus, so let us deal with a dress code for state employees! Wonderful sense of priorites of this mindless government!