The Union Government may have been patting itself on its back for successfully removing red beacons atop official vehicles as a major victory ending VIP culture. But all that bravado is set to crumble in the face of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s ruse.

On April 19, the Centre had issued a directive against the use of red beacons from officials’ cars, except emergency vehicles, from May 1.

The Trinamool Congress chief has left the Centre dumbfounded by finding a way to keep the trappings of power intact.  Mamata Banerjee, who had opposed the decision tooth and nail by terming it ‘unilateral’, has decided to fix flags in place of beacons on the cars of babus in West Bengal, to help them in carrying out their work with ease and save them from road accidents.

A few days after the Centre’s decision on red beacons, she went on to claim that the absence of the flashing lights would put the lives of senior bureaucrats and ministers in danger while traveling on highways, “The vehicles run at a very high speed on the highways so it is difficult to travel without beacons for our ministers and secretaries. There should be some alternative to it,” she had said.

Even the senior administrative officials conceded that the chief minister was thinking of a substitute to the beacons so that vehicles used by bureaucrats could be identified without violating rules and protocol.

Despite grappling with the indefinite strike in Darjeeling by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha(GJM),  she has taken out time to design the flag to be used by the bureaucrats. The colour of the flags is, of course, her favourite: Blue.  

The notification issued by state’s personnel and administrative department on June 20 states, “In view of the significant rise in the level of interaction with various international and national level authorities, it is felt that a flag for use on vehicles being used by senior officials of the state government shall convey a greater sense of government’s intent and enable smoother interactions without compromising protocol.”

According to the notification, the flags will be both “seniority- specific” as well as “post- specific.” The base colour of all flags will be navy blue with the words, “Indian Administrative Service,” written on them in bold. The first vernacular alphabet of the word Bengal will be stitched in the middle.

Moreover, the shapes of these flags will differ according to the seniority of the officers. Flags on vehicles of the chief secretary and additional chief secretaries will be rectangular in shape while those meant for secretaries or those in equivalent rank will be swallow-tailed. Officers in junior administrative grade or selection grade will get triangular flags. The bureaucrats though can only use flags while travelling for the official work, said the top officials.

State Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikary said that his department is currently surveying the requirement of flags.

“The state transport department will be the nodal body responsible for procurement and distribution of the flags which would be procured through tenders. The IAS officers are expected to have flags displayed on their vehicles by the end of June,” the minister said.

He also said that his department will maintain a database and share it with police and National Highway Authority of India. The latest move by the government has been censured both in political circles and by former bureaucrats, who termed it as an attempt to revive VIP culture.

Speaking exclusively to Newslaundry, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh described the notification as an attempt to ‘challenge’ the Union government. “Her sole intention behind such gimmicks is to challenge the Prime Minister and his decisions. He has tried to put an end to the useless practices but she has been trying hard to revive them. She acts as if West Bengal is outside the country that doesn’t fall within the purview of the law of the land. It is shameful that instead of asking her officers to work for the development of the masses, she is resorting to such tactics to prove that she would not follow any direction from the Central government and find a way to disrespect it.”

Senior transport department officials, however, reasoned that the use of any other flag other than the national flag is not restricted by any regulation under Central/State Motor Vehicles Act or Rules, “High-ranking officials and dignitaries of various organisations and non-uniformed services, such as high courts, universities and various services of the Union of India have been using the flag representing the institution that they represent. It is nowhere against protocol,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Though the serving IPS lobby refused to comment on it, the retired bureaucrats were certainly not happy about the latest move. “We remained under the British ruled for nearly 200 years who were credited with gifting us the status symbols that they were so proud of. The Prime Minister took an honest attempt to stop these nuisances that had created a rift among ordinary and officialdom, but it seems that the state regime is not ready to mingle with the crowd,” said Ardhendu Sen, the retired chief secretary of Bengal.

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