Flab punch

Mumbai, April 28: The home of Bollywood has declared war on a Hindi film icon: the pot-bellied policeman.

A House committee in Maharashtra has recommended that unfit cops be suspended if they ignore warnings to shape up. They should be allowed to resume work only after they have shed the flab within a deadline.

“The state police department should conduct tests every three, five and 10 years,” says the 29-member committee’s report, tabled during the budget session that ended last week.

The committee has cited how truck drivers — a tribe closely linked with the fat constable in public imagination — have to appear before the regional transport office for a fitness test every three years. The unfit have their licences revoked.

Since 2006, police personnel’s fitness has been judged on the basis of their body mass index — one’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of one’s height in metres — plus a series of physical tests. A monthly incentive of Rs 250 is given to those who scrupulously maintain their fitness.

The panel wants the cash carrot scrapped and the suspension stick applied. But it says the government should set up swimming pools and sports complexes to help the police stay fit.

Senior officers said suspension for lack of fitness was not legally tenable and required an amendment to the service rules.

“Besides, a suspended policeman is entitled to 75 per cent of his salary, so the measure may not work,” former IPS officer Yogesh Pratap Singh said.

The Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant, a committee member, said: “Policemen used to exercise and do parades every morning. Now they finish their eight-hour duty and go home.”

He added: “We have asked the government to also look into the personnel’s family and health problems and addictions, which contribute to poor fitness.”

Sawant said suicides were rising among policemen.