Thiruvananthapuram: Lifestyle diseases haunt police too

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: All the Suryanamaskar and burpees the policemen did during auspicious days remain incipient bravado as lifestyle diseases haunt many cops. State police chiefs routinely insist constabulary follow physical fitness regimes but physical fitness is not evaluated after a person joins the force. The last among the efforts to study health parameters happened when present chief Lokanath Behera constituted a team to devise fitness regime for the forces. However, that also has not started yielding results, say officers who were to execute it.

“A dietician visited police camps in the city and monitored the type of food eaten. The oil was found to be villain everywhere. Blood pressure and cholesterol are common due to diet and work related stress,” a senior officer said. “We were to receive feedback after this survey. However, officers have no power to restrict them from eating junk food.” An improvised version of exercise regime of Cooper Institute, Dallas, USA, was to be devised by Sports Authority of India (SAI) for police under the project envisaged by Mr Behera.

“Delaying promotion of physically unfit officer could be an option. This can be done if individuals cannot prove that they have a medical condition. This is followed by few paramilitary forces,” the officer said. City police commissioner Sparjan Kumar said there were few police stations where yoga is practised regularly. “But these are things they should take care of at a personal level and we do encourage it,” Mr Kumar said.