Khaki uniform of hospital security guards to stay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 22

The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) has put an end to the controversy over “khakhi”-colour uniform of its security men, with some minor changes.

The PGI and the UT police were at loggerheads after the latter had objected to the khaki uniform worn by the security guards at the PGI.

The UT police had sent a letter wherein it had expressed its displeasure over the colour of uniform. Sources said the UT police had stated that the uniform colour created confusion. They had also apprehended that some anti-social elements might take advantage of the khaki colour.

Deputy Director, Administration, PGIMER, Amitabh Avasthi said the security guards recruited by the hospital had been wearing khakhi-colour uniform from the beginning, while the outsourced private security guards wore light blue shirt and dark blue trouser.

“We recently received a letter wherein the UT police had expressed concern over the colour of the uniform worn by the PGI security guards. The matter was looked into by a committee headed by Dr Sanjeev Handa. The committee has suggested some changes. While the khaki uniform will stay, the PGI security guards from now support a blue cap. The pocket on the uniform will also be of blue colour to give the staff a distinct look,” said Avasthi.

However, the security guards are not comfortable with the changes made in their uniform. “This is a government-run institution and we are government employees. Security guards deployed with government departments wear khaki uniform, but we fail to understand why the UT police have a problem. The job of the police and ours is the same. We have to maintain security on the hospital premises, while the police manage security across the city,” said a group of security guards.