Dress code: Rs 100 fine for Rythu Bazar staff

HYDERABAD: The agriculture marketing department has directed the chief executive officer of rythu bazars to make sure that the bazar staff should follow the dress code and impose a fine of Rs 100 per day for those who flout the rules.As per the dress code, the staff have to wear sky blue shirts, navy blue trousers, black fabric belt and black shoes.However, estate officers can work in normal clothes.The move comes after the agriculture & marketing commissioner-director B Aravinda Reddy found customers in nine rythu bazars, running from pillar to post to register complaints as the staff were not following the dress code."He decided to impose the fine of Rs100 per day on staff not following the dress code and we will implement it from the first week of March," said PS Pradyumna, chief executive officer of rythu bazars."We have provided dress material for staff at 41 rythu bazars.The assistant estate officers, supervisors and securitymen are given dress materials in December last year," he added.However, A Pratap, a supervisor at Mehadipatnam rythu bazar denied that they were irregular in following the rule."A few times when our two uniforms had to be given for washing and we had to come in civil dress but that happens once in a month," he said.The move has brought some relief to regular customers like J Venkateswarlu."I visit the rythu bazar at Erragadda regularly.I found some middlemen and farmers selling vegetables at more than the normal prices.I went to lodge a complaint but I hardly found staff who were in uniform," he said.