Frame rules for gyms, fitness centres: Speaker to C'garh govt

Chhattisgarh Assembly Speaker Charandas Mahant on Wednesday directed the state government to frame rules and laws for gyms and fitness centres operating in the state.

The direction came during a discussion in the assembly on the death of a bodybuilder and gym owner Sandeep Singh Thakur at a private hospital here recently after he allegedly took wrong dosage of steroids.

BJP MLAs Ajay Chandrakar, Brijmohan Agrawal and Shivratan Sharma raised the issue in the House by moving a call attention notice.

Chandrakar said Thakur, who was from Raipur, battled for his life, but eventually lost it.

Thakur's health condition deteriorated after he took uneven dosage of steroids from Mumbai-based fitness trainer Nilesh Parmar and Raipur-based Sumit Rai Choudhury, without any proper medical consultation, he alleged.

Chandrakar and his party MLAs also alleged that due to negligence on the part of the state government, such kind of steroids and psychotropic drugs are being sold illegally in the state on a large scale.

The state government neither possesses figures of the actual number of gyms, nor has it conducted inspection of the fitness trainers.

Besides, no eligibility criteria or qualification has been fixed for gym trainers. Gyms are functioning across the state without any regulations, they said.

As Health and Family Welfare Minister T S Singhdeo was not present in the House, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ravindra Choubey gave a reply.

Denying the allegations, he said the state government has been regularly conducting checks of medicine shops and other facilities to curb the sale of banned drugs and supplements.

The government doesn't regulate gyms as presently no law has been made in this regard either by the state or the Centre, he said.

However, those gym centers engaged in selling protein powders and other supplements have to acquire licence from the Food and Drug Administration. There are nine such gym centres in the state that have acquired licences through online registration, he added.

Food and Drugs Administration had carried out inspection of 105 gym centres this year and also collected two samples of supplements from these facilities.

However, during the inspection of these gyms, no steroids or prohibited drugs were found there, he said.

The minister said, Sandeep Singh Thakur, who was undergoing treatment at Ram Krishna Care Hospital, breathed his last on November 25.

Offences under Section 308, 326 and 34 of IPC have been registered against Sumit Rai Choudhury of Raipur and Nilesh Parmar of Mumbai in connection with Thakur's death.

As per preliminary report, injections were being supplied to Thakur by Parmar from Mumbai, he said.

Chandrakar said Thakur was allegedly given steroids meant for horses and if it is true, it is a very serious matter.

The minister said that the post-mortem report will clarify what kind of drugs the deceased was administered with and by which means.

Mahant said the minister concerned should conduct a thorough probe into the matter.

The minister should also tell his cabinet colleagues to enact rules and laws in the coming days for operating gym- centers, he said.