GUWAHATI: The Assam government has taken decisive steps towards ensuring the state police force is both fully staffed and physically fit. At a recent induction ceremony where 1,861 new members were welcomed into the Assam Police, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made a bold announcement regarding the force’s future staffing.
“We are gearing up to release an advertisement on October 7 to recruit 5,000 young individuals into the Assam Police. Our vision is clear – we aim to make the state police a zero-vacancy force. In the near future, there will be no unoccupied posts within the Assam Police,” the Chief Minister declared.
This commitment to bolster the police force goes hand in hand with recent initiatives to maintain a standard of physical fitness among its ranks. To achieve the latter, the state government made a controversial decision earlier this year – police personnel who are deemed obese and unable to shed excess weight within a stipulated period would be moved to the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS).
Assam’s Director General of Police (DGP), GP Singh, inaugurated this initiative by being the first official to undergo a body mass index (BMI) measurement in August. This exercise extended to every district in the state, establishing a clear benchmark for fitness standards within the force. Singh announced that overweight personnel have a deadline until November this year to meet the desired fitness standards. If they don’t, they will be transitioned to VRS.
Supporting this decision, Chief Minister Sarma stressed the importance of physical fitness in policing duties. “Individuals struggling with obesity cannot continue their roles in the state police. Those who don’t meet the fitness criteria will be respectfully offered the VRS, in line with government procedures,” he added.
