CM calls ‘flower show’ utter waste, wants practice out

Bangalore Mirror

Sullia, 25 October 2011:

D V Sadananda Gowda’s diktat is bad news to florists in the state, but he sees no point in the numerous bouquets and garlands given to him and other dignitaries at official events

 

Three months into office, chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda is turning out to be a politician of different mettle — touch wood! If at the beginning of this month, he had refused to fund festivities out of public money (Don’t ask me to fund festivities, CM tells his staff, BM, Oct 7), he’s now telling people to go slow on the garlands. Just one garland per function, he told party workers in Sullia where he attended a niece’s marriage on Monday.

 

Of course, this is hardly good news to those in the floriculture business, but the chief minister thinks that flowers are a waste of money since they wither away quickly. “Gift dignitaries books instead,” he said, adding: “We have started this practice in some departments in Bangalore.”

Gift dignitaries books instead, Sadananda Gowda told party workers in Sullia

 

In fact, the Department for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) recently announced that flowers would be replaced by Kannada books at city functions and solar lamps at village-level events. 

 

RDPR minister Jagadish Shettar had directed all officials in the state not to buy flowers,bouquets, and garlands to welcome guests or officials at department functions. His argument was that flowers were expensive, but most guests abandon the bouquets at the venue itself when they leave.

 

Number-crunching:

Garlands and bouquets have appeared with unerring regularity at every formal function involving political guests — from activists to chief ministers.

 

On an average, the CM receives five to 10 garlands and bouquets every day. While these figures refer only to floral tributes made to the CM on stage, political leaders and guests bring in more — easily taking the number up to 30 a day. However, the number is nothing compared to what B S Yeddyurappa got as chief minister.

 

According to sources in the CM’s office, Yeddyurappa received the highest number of garlands and bouquets. In his three years in office, Yeddyurappa rarely stayed at the headquarters, travelling for more than 500 days. Even if he attended five functions a day, the numbers work out to 2,500 official garlands or bouquets. “The number of unofficial garlands and bouquets cross more than 10,000, meaning 200-300 during each touring day,” explained a senior official from the CM’s office.

 

Sadananda Gowda is a study in contrast. In fact, there are days when he doesn’t even get one garland. “Unlike the previous CM, he does not attend too many functions and hence there are fewer flowers,” the official added.