Opposition leader in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council Hangsha Kumar Tripura on Wednesday opposed the council’s move of making traditional dresses compulsory in offices once in a week and termed the move as “show off”.
“We don’t support such a move. Dress is a matter of personal liberty. There are people from different communities; even non-tribal staff are there in the administration”, he said.
Earlier, the Council on Tuesday issued an order requesting all its employees to wear traditional dresses once a week. The order undersigned by the additional Chief Executive Officer of Subal Debbarma to the TTAADC also specified the working day—Monday for the traditional dress code.
“It is for general information to all employees of TTAADC, the Executive Committee of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council has been pleased to introduce for wearing Indigenous Traditional Dresses of Tripura once in a week i e. on Monday of the week, including Hon’ble Chairman, CEM, Dy. CEM, EMs and MDCs. In view of the above, all employees of TTAADC are requested for compliance”, the order copy reads.
Speaking on the issue, an official in the TTAADC said, there are a total of 6,000 to 7,0000 employees serving in various positions of the tribal council. “If the council is so serious about promoting traditional values, traditional dresses should be made compulsory for everyday and each of the employees should have the liberty to wear his dress whenever required. In villages, people always wear traditional dresses”, said Tripura.
According to officials, around 15 to 20 percent of employees of the total strength are from non-tribal communities.
