There will be no more bouquets, garlands, shawls or gifts at government events in Karnataka, according to a circular issued by the state government on Tuesday. The order followed Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's directions to cut down unnecessary expenditure, reports said. The government in a circular said Kannada books can be given instead.
Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar issued a circular to this effect on the directions from Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister who chaired a meeting of senior police officials refused to accept a flower bouquet, and said that the practice of giving garland, shawls and bouquets in the name of protocol should be done away with, terming it as “unnecessary expenditure”.
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Subsequently, the Chief Secretary issued a circular directing not to give garland, shawls, flower bouquets, fruit baskets and memorabilia at meetings and events by the state government and the government-run-institutions.
All department heads and government undertakings have been asked to comply with the directions, it said.
Cost-cutting has been a priority for the new CM who took over on July 28 -- in fact, Bommai had brought up the topic at his first meeting with bureaucrats on the same day. "Today, in the context of the Covid-19 scenario, there is a need to bring in financial discipline. Unnecessary expenditure should be curtailed in every department," he had said at his first press conference. The target, he had said then, was to achieve at least 5 percent reduction in expenditure without affecting ongoing programmes.
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Recently, the newly sworn-in Energy and Kannada & Culture Minister V Sunil Kumar had appealed to those coming to greet him not to give garlands and gifts and asked for Kannada books instead, which he would donate to a library in his Karkala constituency.
With PTI inputs
