Assam police to conduct third round of fitness test

Silchar: The Assam police announced that it will carry out the third round of fitness tests to detect overweight employees in the department in August. 

97.53% of candidates passed the first-ever Body Mass Index (BMI) test conducted by the Assam Police in August last year.

Assam director general of police (DGP) Gyanendra Pratap Singh took to X on May 16, he wrote, “One year since we announced the first of the annual BMI test for@assampolicepersonnel. Buoyed by encouraging first steps, it’s time to start preparing for 2024 BMI test scheduled to start from August 16th 2024.”

Singh on May 16 last year issued an order and asked all the police personnel to prepare themselves to go through professional recording of BMI.

According to the official records, over 70,000 police personnel went through the tests at 36 locations across the state. Singh was the first officer to attend the test to encourage other officers.

According to Singh, the standard for the first BMI test was 30 and all the officials recorded ‘30+’ were considered obese or overweight. 

While announcing the BMI test, the DGP had said those who fail after the second phase will be sent to voluntary retirement. There will be exceptions for those suffering from medical conditions for which body weight cannot be reduced.

However, he later said that their motto was not to punish anyone but to bring them under discipline. “We’ll increase the stand year by year and after the success in the first two phases, we are optimistic that in the next few years, Assam Police will emerge as the fittest force in the country,” Singh had told HT in January this year.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a widely used measure to determine whether a person’s weight falls within the healthy range. It is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms into meters by the square of your height (BMI = weight (kg)/ height (m2). BMI provides a rough estimate of the percentage of body fat and helps the individual to divide into different categories, a senior police officer said.

“In line with directions of the Hon@CMOfficeAssam,@assampoliceHq has decided to go in 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 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 ground like thyroidism etc.@DGPAssamPolicewould be the first to have the BMI taken on August 16th,” Singh informed via X on May 16.