Was the only female duffedar of the Chennai Corporation transferred out due to a problem authorities had with her personal grooming? With each party held on to their side of the story, the controversy surrounding the recent remained unresolved on Wednesday.
Media reports flagged the issue raised by the female duffedar S.B. Madhavi. She claimed that she had been transferred from Ripon Building to a post in Manali as “punishment for her continuing to wear a shade of lipstick that she wanted, against the instructions of Chennai Mayor R. Priya’s personal assistant. She claims the problem started after she reportedly wore a shade of lipstick that matched Mayor’s.
While Ms. Priya refused to comment on the issue, a press release from Greater Chennai Corporation, sought to dismiss that line of argument. It said: “Ms. S.B. Madhavi, who served as a duffedar in the Mayor’s office, was issued a memo last month regarding administrative defaults, including repeatedly violating office procedures, arriving late without proper notice, and not performing assigned tasks. No inquiry or clarification was sought regarding her personal grooming, and no investigation was conducted. Some media reports have incorrectly claimed that her transfer was due to her personal grooming. It is clarified that her transfer to the Manali Zone office under the Greater Chennai Corporation was solely due to administrative reasons, not her personal grooming choices.”
But, Ms.Madhavi will have none of that: “A week before I received the memo [from GCC], the Mayor’s personal assistant asked me to not wear the lip shade I regularly do, as it resembles the shade the Mayor wears. He pointed me to another worker and asked me to wear that shade of lipstick. But, I said I will wear what I feel suits my face.”
“I am a 50-year-old single parent residing in Avadi, forced to travel about 30 km daily for work. Owing to my ailments, I cannot walk long distances and rely on paid private transport at times - this costs me ₹300 to ₹500 a day,” she claimed.
To this, a senior official in the General Department claimed she had not represented her grievances to the GCC. “In this case, she could have informed the GCC earlier if the location of the new place of work was inconvenient.” In fact the official claimed she had been asked about the issues with the distance and was told that a shift-basis arrangement of work could be made temporarily. “But she filed no such grievance. She was transferred to Manali since there were certain issues in sending her back to Ambattur, where she previously worked,” he confirmed.
Ms.. Madhavi contested this. She claimed she was not informed beforehand about the transfer and followed the orders handed out to her. “No official spoke to be before or after my transfer; or did they say I could come to them regarding transportation inconveniences. It has been over a month since I was transferred and I am doing the work assigned to me despite my ailments. I actually slipped and fell in the bathroom at the Corporation and injured my limbs. This happened because as the sole woman duffedar I was not assigned a changing room, and had to use the bathroom. It was after my fall that a room was assigned for my use. Though it has been a year since the injuries, I find it difficult to walk long distances and have to use private transportation.” She also claimed there was no issue in discharging her duties [as mentioned by the official]..
Ms. Madhavi stated that she worked as a duffedar for four years and 11 years as an Administrative Officer (AO) in GCC before that, but never until recently faced any problems concerning her sartorial choices.
She told The Hindu, “I wore a traditional saree to a fashion show of the Corporation. The next day, the Mayor criticised me for attending the show and was angry. I assured her that I would not attend such events anymore. I always dress up in uniform and only wore colourful attire that one day for the show celebrating Women’s Day at the Ripon Building premises after 2 p.m.”
She received a memo on August 6 from the GCC about “constant tardiness.” She admitted being late only on August 6, arriving at 10:30 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. In response to claims of “defying orders,” she asked what orders were defied and questioned if wearing lipstick counted as defiance.
The senior official in the GCC clarified that as per a G.O in 2019, only dress code for employees is specified, but not ornaments or makeup.
Published - September 26, 2024 12:57 am IST
