WHEN the tricolour unfurls into a burst of colour at Red Fort, Abdul Gaffar Shaik will allow himself a smile, just as his father had in 1947. Shaik has been at it for several month now — the 12 ft x 8 ft flag cascading from his sewing machine and floodinghis room at the Kora Gramudyog Kendra.
This is India’s official flag factory — the tricolour that flutters atop the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament House, and all other government buildings, from the desks of government officials, on their cars…they are all sewn at the Kendra.
The Kendra was set up in 1946 by Gandhian Balasaheb Kher and other social workers on Dockyard Road. But it was later relocated to the distant suburb of Borivali. The cottages at the Kendra, with their red, baked tiles, was built by architect Chotubhai Kora, after whom the establishment got its name.
“We are the sole manufacturers of the national flag and that gives us a distinct identity and importance,” Shashikant Shah of the Kendra says.
“We have been certified by the Khadi Village Industries Commission to manufacture and sell national flags according to norms set by them,” says Mahendra Vyas, who heads the sales and production department at the Kendra. “We use cotton khadi which is approved by the Khadi Commission. The colours must be the exact shade. Everything must be perfect, right down to the number of stitches on the flag,” says Vyas.
The biggest flag made at the Kendra measured 14 by 21 ft and now flutters atop the State Secretariat and also at Chattrapati Shivaji’s fort at Sindhudurg, 510 km from Mumbai. “Three bales of khadi went into the making of each colour. That was a huge flag,” says Shah. That flag was sold for Rs 7,000. The smaller flags — the ones on cars and desks of officials — cost Rs 60.

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