Shimla, Feb 4 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh Police will revert to wearing traditional khaki in place of trendy blue uniforms, an official said here Saturday.
‘The police board has unanimously decided to revert back to the khaki uniform. All police personnel, including IPS (Indian Police Service) officers, will don the old uniform,’ Additional Director General S.R. Mardi told IANS.
Still, it will take more than six months for the 16,000-strong state police force to switch back to the conventional dress.
‘There will be a huge expenditure to buy stocks of new (khaki) uniforms and dispose off the surplus stock of the present blue ones,’ a senior police official posted in police headquarters said, adding that ‘the process to buy khaki will take not less than six months.’
The police force Jan 3 last year switched to a new blue uniform as part of an image makeover initiative.
Director General of Police D.S. Manhas announced in January last year that all men of the police force, including IPS officers, would wear the blue uniform. It would give a new identity to the police force and would even help shed their dry, brutal image.
The blue uniform included a pair of dark blue trousers, a light blue shirt and a blue beret cap. Accessories such as shoes and belts remained black. Both men and women were required to wear the same uniform.
West Bengal and Goa are the other Indian states to have replaced the traditional khaki for their police personnel with other coloured uniforms.
Government officials said it was a populist decision to revert to the old Khaki as the state assembly is to go to the polls this year. The government does not want to annoy the Himachal Pradesh Police Employees Welfare Federation, which has opposed the blue uniform, the officials added.
The central government also last year turned down the state’s proposal to allow IPS officers to wear the blue uniform. Any issue related to change of uniform of IPS officers comes under the purview of the IPS (Uniform) Rules of 1954 of the central government.
In June 2008, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had given the go-ahead to change the police uniform. The new dress was displayed at the Republic Day parade at the historic Ridge here that year.
