NEW DELHI: The police force in India’s northeastern state of Assam has requested overweight officers to slim down or retire as it strives for higher public confidence with personnel fit for the job.
It is common to see Indian policemen struggle with weight issues and the Assam state police force is not the first to embrace diet discipline and physical fitness in its ranks.
In 2018, police in Karnataka gave staff the choice of losing weight or facing suspension from service, providing them with sports classes and dietary help.
In 2020, a court in Punjab barred overweight cops from conducting raids on bootleggers and drug peddlers because they failed to run fast enough for front-line duty. In 2022, police in India’s island territory of Andaman and Nicobar designed weight loss programs for the heaviest officers.
To have their fitness mission succeed, Assam police gave specific deadlines to cops.
The state’s Director General of Police G.P. Singh earlier this week announced that the body mass index of all officers will be “professionally recorded” in August. Those whose weight is related to medical conditions will be exempt. Obese officers from the 60,000-person police force will then be given three months to slim down or voluntarily retire.
“The idea is to make the police fitter,” Singh told Arab News.
“The public has greater confidence when they see a fitter police force.”
But the issue goes beyond public trust, as physical fitness is also required for officers to be able to perform their duties.
“A fitter person will not have problems walking and they can be on streets without any problem,” Singh said.
So far, response to the fitness order among Singh’s subordinates has been positive.
“The number of people coming for daily morning physical training has gone up. People have also started being more careful of what they eat,” he said.
The Assam police force has also faced scrutiny from the state government.
Earlier this month, Assam Chief Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma ordered the early retirement of about 300 police personnel in the state force, saying they were “habitual drinkers” and “physically unfit.”
The lack of fitness among Indian police has often been blamed on their irregular working hours without proper breaks, but for former Assam police chief Ghanashyam Murari Shrivastava, that argument does not stand.
“This excuse that police work for longer hours does not discount the possibility of being fit,” he said, welcoming Singh’s fitness policy.
“This is a good move and every effort should be made to keep the police lean and fit,” Shrivastava told Arab News.
“In the military service, personnel are fit and ready to perform their duty properly — a similar fitness in police forces should also be there.”
