241 inmates died in MP jails in three years

Bhopal, Mar 16 (UNI) As many as 241 inmates died in Madhya Pradesh's prisons over the past roughly three years while 68 escaped, Jails Minister Antar Singh Arya informed the Assembly today.

In a written reply to Mr Indrajit Kumar (Cong), the Minister said, ''these statistics date from 2004-05 to the present day and pertain to central, district and sub-jails.'' He denied that low-quality food, clothes and medicine were provided to inmates.

Power Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya claimed that a target was set to render Anuppur district's Amarkantak Thermal Power Station's 210-MW Unit 5 operational by July.

Replying to Mr Bahadur Singh Chouhan, the Minister pointed out that a provision existed for replacing faulty meters within a fortnight in urban areas and 30 days in rural areas, on complaint.

''However, there may be a delay either if meters are unavailable or in other special circumstances,'' he added.

In reply to Mr Umashankar Gupta (BJP), Mr Vijayvargiya said that Bhopal district had a total 3,04,528 electricity consumers. The Central Region Power Distribution Company registered more than 40,000 cases of power theft in three years.

UNI