Date:22/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/22/stories/2008082259700400.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Yoga training for Corporation drivers

Staff Reporter

Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

CALMING TECHNIQUE: Chennai Corporation Deputy Commissioner (Health) R. Ananda Kumar (left, foreground), Corporation officials and drivers perform yoga at the training programme on Thursday. —

Chennai: The Chennai Corporation has launched training in yoga for its drivers to help them manage stress.

Mayor M. Subramanian inaugurated the training at the Corporation zonal office in Saidapet on Thursday.

He said the training would be offered in batches to 1,204 drivers employed in the Corporation.

The Mayor, himself a yoga exponent, said he was badly injured in an accident in 2004.

He had regained his health gradually by practicing yoga.

The practice would improve health and bring a sense of well-being, he said.

The yoga training programme for drivers was conceived after a Corporation driver fatally hit a motorist in Triplicane on July 7. The programme seeks to help drivers concentrate better and exercise discipline while driving.

The classes would be offered by yoga teacher Asana Andiappan.

The Mayor urged the drivers to practise yoga every day. Corporation Deputy Commissioner (Health) R. Ananda Kumar also participated in the programme.