The Assam Police said on Tuesday that a fitness survey of all state police officers would soon be conducted to identify individuals who are ‘unfit’ in terms of their Body Mass Index (BMI). This was done in order to create a more physically fit police force.
All employees, including officers from the Assam Police Service (APS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), must pass a fitness test. The term “voluntary retirement from service” (VRS) will be used to describe those who are deemed “unfit.”
The BMI measurement will start once the police staff has until August 15 to improve their level of fitness.
GP Singh, director general of police (DGP), took to Twitter and said, “In line with directions of the Hon @CMOfficeAssam, @assampolice Hq has decided to go for professional recording of Body Mass Index (BMI) of all Assam Police personnel including IPS/APS officers and all DEF/Bn/Organisations. We plan to give three months time to all Assam Police personnel including IPS & APS officers till August 15th and then start BMI assessment in the next fifteen days. All those who are in obese (BMI 30+) category would be offered another three months time to reduce weight (till November End) and after that VRS option except those who have genuine medical reasons like hypothyroidism etc.”
According to Assam DGP GP Singh, officers who are deemed to be unfit will have an additional three months to get in shape and retake the test. They will be given the option of voluntary retirement if they also fail that test. Additionally, he stated that in August, he will be the first to take the BMI test.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, had stated earlier in April that close to 300 Assam Police officers who are “habitual drinkers” will receive voluntary retirement from service.
He said that the excessive drinking of these police officers was impairing their performance.
The chief minister added that the process to grant VRS to such police officers has started, and that hiring will be done to fill these positions.
Sarma said that although the guidelines were already in place, they were never put into practise. He also gave the state police top brass the order to “remove deadwood from the force” in order to make the department more efficient.
