Land identified for new jails in Kullu, Mandi: DG

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 15

Director-General (DG), Prisons and Correctional Services, Himachal, Somesh Goyal has said that five new jails will be set up in the state and the existing ones will be expanded to deal with the problem of overcrowding.

He said jails in Kullu and Mandi were old and there was no scope for expansion, and therefore new ones would be set up in both districts, besides Nalagarh, Rampur and Nurpur.

He said land had been identified and acquired to set up jails in Kullu and Mandi. The tender for the construction work had been awarded to HIMUDA. The process to identify land in Rampur and Nurpur was in the final stage and forest clearances were awaited, he added.

He said in Nalagarh, land was allotted to the Prisons Department, but during the demarcation process, some locals raised objections and claimed their right on the land. This delayed the construction.

However, DC, Solan, Vinod Kumar said no private party was involved. A portion of the land was pasture land (grazing land) and the case was pending for forest clearance.

Goyal further said, “The capacity of the existing jails is being increased and four 14-bed new barracks have been added in Dharamsala, Chamba and Kanda. A new barrack with 20 beds has been added at the Nahan jail while one more open barrack with 40 beds is under construction at the Hamirpur jail.”

He said they did not wanted to sacrifice green space on the jail premises as gardens and agricultural land helped reduce the stress of prisoners and the introduction of bunker beds would save money as well as ensure the optimum usage of available space.

He said the concept was eco-friendly and economical as the cost of adding one bunker bed is Rs 3 lakh against Rs 1 crore required to construct one bunker.

Moreover, the capacity of a single barrack could be increased by 1.5 to 2 times and no extra manpower was needed, he added.

Recent initiatives

• Mattresses have been provided to all women inmates 
• Senior citizens will be kept in open barracks, whether they work or not
• As there is only one woman prison officer in the state, the Prisons Department has done away with the “gender” in the recruitment of prison staff.