Prisons Dept sales decline 25% due to pandemic

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 8

With Covid-19 taking a toll on economic activities, the sales of the state Prisons Department dipped by 25 per cent between April and July. However, the sale of bakery products was hit only marginally.

The sale of products made by jail inmates from April to July last year was around Rs1.60 crore while the sale for the corresponding period this year is around Rs1.32 crore — a decline of 25 per cent.

“Due to the pandemic, the department could not organise exhibition of its products, especially ready-made garments, handicrafts and wooden furniture. So, the sales suffered a major setback,” said Somesh Goyal, DGP (Prisons and Correctional Services).

“However, the slide in the sale of bakery products was only 10 per cent, even as the Pehal stores were closed during the initial phase of the lockdown. People continued to place orders, especially for cakes. Bread was another commodity is major demand, especially when the supply of essentials was erratic,” he said.

He said bakery items such as cakes, bread, donuts, pastries, biscuit, cookies, bun, pizza and chocolates were in a great demand because of their good quality and reasonable prices.

As over 40 per cent inmates lodged in jails in the state were sole bread-earners for their families, job avenues were created for them under the ‘Har Hath Ko Kaam’ initiative.

Mobile canteen vans offering food such as ‘rajma chawal’ and ‘kadhi chawal’ in the vicinity of the IGMC, Shimla, are not yet functional. However, Pehal stores at Kaithu jail, High Court and Secretariat were operating, said Goyal, adding that we are planning to install automatic socks-making machines to manufacture nylon socks in the Nahan jail.

In 2019, the total sale of the department was Rs4.8 crores and average annual income of prisoners was Rs46,200 each — which is highest in the country.

As per the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) report published recently, there were 2,146 prisoners lodged in 14 jails in Himachal as on December 31, 2019, with occupancy rate of 110.6 per cent that is less than the national average of 118.5 per cent. Occupancy rate of women lodged in the state jails was satisfactory at 63.97 per cent.