Cong leader takes a dig at Goa's dress code order

Panaji, Mar 25: Taking a dig at Goa's Art and Culture Department's order asking its employees not to wear sleeveless clothes, jeans and T-shirts during office hours, Congress leader Alexio Reginaldo said people should be allowed to wear what they want.

He said the BJP government in the state was coming up with these sort of orders only to divert public attention to cover up its failure to run the administration properly.

"People should be allowed to wear what they want while attending offices. Even in bikini they should be allowed," Lourenco told reporters outside the state Assembly premises.

The Goa government's Art and Culture department recently instructed its employees to wear only 'formal dress' and skip jeans, corduroy, T-shirts, trousers with multiple pockets and sleeveless dresses during the office hours and official functions of the Directorate to "maintain decorum."

Culture Minister Dayanand Mandrekar evaded a firm reply when asked if the order will be implemented strictly. "We will see that later," he said.

Legislator Atanasio Monserratte, who was expelled from the Congress, said that choosing one's dress is an individual decision.

"One should be perfectly dressed. People working in the government offices should be asked to decide on the code," he said.

State Cabinet minister Ramakrishna Dhavalikar had last year created a controversy by demanding a ban on bikinis on the beaches.

PTI