GUWAHATI: An IAS officer in Meghalaya is inspiring people to walk so they can stay fit. West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner (District Magistrate), Ram Singh, not only walks in the morning every day, he also walks a distance of around 10-12 km twice or thrice a month in the hilly state to fetch organic vegetables from weekly markets.
He carries home the stuff in a traditional bamboo basket which will dangle from his shoulder. Inspired by him, some officers have also started walking the distance.
"21 kgs of weekend organic vegetable shopping, no plastic, no vehicular pollution, no traffic jam, Fit India, Fit Meghalaya, eat organic, clean & green Tura, POSHAN, 10 km morning walk,” Singh posted on his Facebook page the other day.
The post was accompanied by some photographs which have since gone viral on social media. He told this newspaper on Tuesday that his basic idea behind his “walkathon” was to avoid traffic snarl and vehicle parking issues and to stay fit.
“I have been doing this for the past six months. Sometimes, I go along with my wife who is also a fitness enthusiast. We have too much of traffic jam and parking issues. Then, there is the issue of plastic. So, we encourage people to use bamboo baskets,” the 2008 batch and 43-year-old IAS officer from Himachal Pradesh said.
“I always advise people to walk if it’s a small distance. We have a middle-class mentality and as such, we tend to use vehicles. I feel modern challenges need traditional solutions. If we go by traditional ways, we can stay fit,” Singh said.
“Those weekly markets sell organic vegetables. The sellers fetch vegetables from faraway places. If they can bring the stuffs from such long distances, why can’t we walk a small distance to buy the vegetables?” he argued.