Boundary wall of the Uttar Pradesh Haj Committee’s office got back its original cream colour on Friday, within 24 hours of the structure being painted in saffron which evoked criticism.
The committee blamed the contractor for the blooper and said action is being taken against him.
Chief executive officer and secretary of the committee RP Singh told HT on Saturday: “We had asked the contractor to paint the building matching the colour of the nearby structures.”
While the two main buildings near the Haj office -- the Vidhan Bhawan and Lok Bhawan (chief minister’s secretariat) are stone structured, the other important building in the vicinity-- the BJP state headquarters—wears the same dark and light shades of saffron that the contractor applied on the Haj office’s boundary wall.
Singh said the wall is now repainted in cream.
He also issued a press note on Saturday, which says that the contractor was negligent in “painting the wall in a bit darker shade than what was approved.”
Immediate cognisance of the negligence done by the contractor in colouring and the building was taken and corrective measure as well as action against him (the contractor) was initiated, the press note said.
{{/usCountry}}Immediate cognisance of the negligence done by the contractor in colouring and the building was taken and corrective measure as well as action against him (the contractor) was initiated, the press note said.
{{/usCountry}}The office facilitates annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca. The committee also manages the UP Haj House that is located near the Lucknow airport on Kanpur road.
On Friday the UP Haj minister Mohsin Raza, who often wears a saffron coloured waistcoat, had defended the new colour.
“There is no need for any controversy over such things. Saffron is a bright and energetic colour and it has rendered the building more beautiful. The opposition has no big issues against us, so they raise inconsequential matters.”
Critics of the state’s ruling BJP, however, claimed the move aimed at imposing the party colour on other. The BJP is often associated with the saffron, which is regarded as the holiest colour in Hinduism.
State chief minister Yogi Adityanath, a monk-turned politician, is always clad in saffron.
In September last year, the state government painted its secretariat annexe building (Shastri Bhawan) in shades of saffron and then launched a rural bus service with saffron coloured buses.