Once
the ubiquitous postman, whose uniform was changed from 'khaki' to blue to give
him a corporate look, has been longing to go back to his original dress code. In
fact, after the switch from 'khaki' uniform with a matching 'Netaji' cap,
postmen feel that they had lost their 'friendly' image and wish to regain the
image a 'dakiya' (popular name in Hindi for postman) through the
'khaki.'
There
are 3,129 postmen in Madhya Pradesh who would now don back the khaki with the
new India Post red logo. The team includes 119 women who would be supplied with
khaki sarees replacing the existing blue ones. For men, the reverted khaki
uniform, however, would not have the old Netaji cap.
It
was in 2004 when the Union government changed the uniform of postmen from khaki
to sky-blue shirts and deep-blue trousers. For women, the sky-blue sarees has a
dark-blue border. The department of post personnel had been long demanding
reverting the dress code.
"The
blue uniform had not only nudged us out of market, but even made us look
strangers," said president of postal employees association Prahlad Jaiswal, who
has been spear-heading the fight to win back the almost lost-craze for the
postman. "A crucial meeting on 'khaki uniform' with senior officials of the
Madhya Pradesh circle will be held on September 13 at Bhopal, and we have been
asking the Union government to reconsider our demand of going back to khaki," he
said.
"The
change from khaki to blue aimed to give a corporate touch from the drab-sounding
and dull-looking khaki. However, no one realized that the change in uniform will
make the postmen invisible," said the secretary of the association, Raju
Yadav.
"The
khaki uniform had given us the look of a government employee and made us look
something different from run of the mill. Look at the uniform of forest
officials and policemen, they are still the same and make them stand out from
the rest of security agencies and other uniforms worn by the government
employees," said Yadav.
"The
decision to return back to khaki has already been taken," said a senior official
of the postal department preferring anonymity. "It is a matter of time when
postmen would be distributed the khaki uniform," he
said.
