If you live in Kanpur and think that you can roll out of bed and proceed on your morning walk, you are mistaken. The authorities at the famous Green Park stadium have now implemented a dress code for all morning walkers.
“We have over 600 people who come here for morning walk and most of them are attired in their night dress. If someone has to take a morning walk here, henceforth they will have to wear sports gear and that includes the women too. We cannot have women wearing kaftans, maxis and salwar-kurtas on the track,” said stadium official Bula Ganguly.
The Green Park authorities have also decided to introduce an ID system which will be needed to gain entry into the premises. The morning walkers will have to get their identity cards made by paying a nominal fee of Rs 100 per month.
“This is being done for security reasons because the Green Park is the only stadium in UP with international standards and we cannot afford any mischief here,” the official said.
The decision, however, has irked female morning walkers. “I am 55 years old and I will not wear track pants at this age. If the Green Park insists, I will prefer another venue for my morning walk and a lot of my friends are thinking on similar lines. The decision is ridiculous — how can anyone force other people to dress according to their preferences,” said Lalita Kumar, a house wife. Kanpur, incidentally, top the list when it comes to implementing dress codes. Three years ago, four degree colleges in the city had banned girl students from wearing jeans on the grounds that such dresses invited eve-teasers. This drew loud protests form the students and the state government finally issued a statement saying that such orders had no administrative or legal sanction.