Postmen near Albert Ekka Chowk and letter sorting personnel (below) at Ranchi GPO dress down in protest on Tuesday. Pictures by Prashant Mitra

Call it leg show for a cause.

On Tuesday, Ranchi residents were taken aback to see their postmen clad in shorts or Bermudas and sleeveless vests.

Postmen across the city as well as letter sorting personnel at the Doranda head office India Post (Jharkhand circle) and Ranchi GPO, near Albert Ekka Chowk, shunned the uniform of dark blue trousers and light blue full-sleeved shirts.

This sartorial protest, apparently to continue on Wednesday as well, is the outcome of a longstanding grouse.

“We get very bad uniforms, including sandals and shoes, that wear out very soon and small umbrellas that neither protect us nor the letters we carry,” said National Federation of Postal Employees (Jharkhand) secretary Ravindra Dev Singh, a postman himself.

“The protest call is a national one. Across the state, over 400 postal workers, including over 70 in Ranchi, took part in the protest today (Tuesday),” Singh claimed.

However, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad and Bokaro reported no cases of postmen shedding uniforms.

Maybe, they are just shyer than their Ranchi counterparts.

But Dev Singh in Ranchi, who flaunted his vest and shorts proudly, said they had to shed inhibitions to make an impact after suffering apathy for years.

“You can’t imagine how shabby and uncomfortable we are in substandard uniforms,” he said.

“The colour of uniforms fades out after two washes. Shoes last three months or less, sandals barely last for a month. Umbrellas are so small that we get drenched in showers. Who will say we are central government employees?” said Rajendra Mahto, another postman.

According to norms, in a year, each postman gets two sets of trousers and shirts, a pair of shoes, a pair of sandals and one umbrella.

“The protest was a call from the union of the postmen. The uniforms distributed among postmen are of same quality all around the country. Thus, it is a pan-India issue, which is not specific to Ranchi or Jharkhand alone,” said R.N. Pandey, postmaster of Doranda head office.