In a bid to ensure a professional outfit, the re-examination of body mass index (BMI) of “obese” Assam Police personnel began on Tuesday, a top official said. 

The review of BMI of 1,884 police personnel started at Jorhat, Silchar and Guwahati, Director General of Police GP Singh said.

The state police had conducted the body mass index (BMI) check of all personnel in August last year with the director general of police (DGP) undergoing the screening test first.

“As a follow up to BMI testing in August 2023, the re-examination of 1,884 @assampolice personnel who fell in Obese category (30+ BMI) would start at Guwahati, Silchar and Jorhat from January 2nd 2024,” Singh wrote on X on Monday. Body mass index is a measurement of a person’s weight with respect to his or her height. According to the World Health Organization, a BMI over 25 is considered overweight, and over 30 is obese.

Reaffirming stress on physical fitness, the DGP said, “Hope most of them have shaped up in the three months period given. We remain committed to provide people of Assam a professional and fit Police Unit.” Nearly 2.5 per cent of the police personnel, who had undergone BMI tests in August last year, were found obese and were put under medical care to make them fit, Singh had said earlier.

Altogether 70,161 personnel had undergone such a test in the first phase of the exercise, of whom 1,748 were found to have BMI readings of over 30, he said.

The DGP had earlier said that all those who would not be able to reduce their weight by the end of the stipulated period would be offered a voluntary retirement option, except for those who have genuine medical reasons like thyroidism.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had previously advocated removing the ‘dead wood’ from the police force - habitual drinkers, those with extreme obesity and with charges of corruption.