Yoga brings in a fresh whiff of air

Kozhikode: CISF personnel and the Airport Authority staff sat calmly on a floor-mat holding one nostril with the thumb and releasing air through the other while counting the seconds.

Their turbulent minds were relaxing with an early morning dose of Pranayama at Kozhikode International Airport that witnessed unprecedented violence a few weeks ago between the CISF and Airport staff.

The International Yoga Day came at an opportune moment and the Malappuram district administration grabbed the opportunity and conducted a Yoga session for both CISF and airport staff at the airport premises in a bid to build confidence among the stressed staff and to bring back unity and discipline.

“We are initiating several confidence building measures among the CISF and airport staff to ease the prevailing tension. On Sunday we conducted a Yoga session for them. In one hall they sat together and did yoga. These sessions will continue,” said N Prasanth, Kozhikode Collector, who now holds the additional charge of Malappuram district. Yoga united the warring groups in one hall. “CISF men and airport staff had two different sessions also as there was a space constraint to accommodate all of them together. The employees who were not on duty participated in the sessions,” Prasanth added.

He said the district administration was also planning more group activities for both the CISF and airport staff in the coming weeks.

“As part of confidence building measures, we are planning to have more joint sessions of Yoga and management games. This will build a sense of unity among them,” the Collector said.

Meanwhile, Airport Authority is also conducting special sessions for their staff to ease the tension and work stress among both the CISF and airport staff.

Special meetings have been held to decide the course of action to reduce the work tension and also to avoid ego tussle between officials who are on duty at the airport.