The recent incident of use of steroids by aspiring policemen is having ripple effect on other organisations in the city.

Authorities at the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) plan to check such attempts during recruitments in the fire and emergency services department.

This comes after some candidates for the post of police sub-inspector were found using performance-enhancing drugs for the fitness test last week.

They were barred from taking the test for a day and let off after counselling.

AMC chief fire officer M F Dastoor said that some steps need to be taken to discourage candidates from taking steroids, and one step is steroid test on them.

“As of now, we have only worked out the physical capability requirement. We have not given thought to the possibility of candidates using steroids during physical tests,” he said.

He agreed that candidates might get tempted to use steroids and that the authorities could not afford to be ignorant. “As and when the time comes for the recruitment drive, we may test them for steroids,” he added.

Municipal commissioner I P Gautam said the AMC has ample time to ponder over the matter and act in accordance with circumstances that may arise at the time of recruitments.

It may be recalled here that last year some fire service volunteers had tried to commit suicide to protest against the “stringent” physical test parameters set by the AMC, which included covering 800 metres in 120 seconds.

Source: Indian Express