Delhi to get new prison this year, two more to come by 2015

New Delhi, Aug 3: In order to decongest the over-crowded Tihar jail, three new jails are being constructed at Mandoli, Narela and Baprola area of the national capital.

The Tihar Jail, which is considered one of the largest prisons in the world, at present houses 13,000 prisoners against sanctioned capacity of 6,250 prisoners.

"Construction of three new jails has been taken up in Mandoli, Narela and Baprola areas to decongest Tihar jail," Tihar jail PRO Sunil Gupta said.

There is a jail at Rohini as well which houses around 2,000 inmates. Gupta said construction of the jail in Mandoli is expected to be completed by the end of this year while other two jails should be ready by the next year. The construction of jail at Mandoli in east Delhi will provide accomodation to 3,776 prisoners.

The Mandoli jail will house six jails, one for convicts, one for first time offenders, one each for long-term undertrials, adolescents and women. A separate cell is being constructed at the Mandoli jail for "high security prisoners", Gupta said.

The Jail Complex is spread over 68 acres of land. Gupta said that various steps have been taken keeping the security measures in mind.

The Mandoli jail will have proper air circulation systems in all wards and no electricity fixtures have been kept inside the wards. Inbuilt mechanism for CCTV, optical fibre cable network will also be put in place.

The Mandoli jail will have solar water heating system, RO system, sewage treatment plant and rain water harvesting systems. To ensure segregation of the inmates, provision of seperate prison for high security prisoners and first time offenders has been made, Gupta said.

Residential accommodation for 604 staff members has also been arranged at the staff hostel. Mandoli jail complex is being constructed at a cost of Rs 169 crores approximately.

Construction of the other two jails, one at Narela and the other open jail at Baprola will start soon as all administrative clearences have been obtained.

The new open prison is proposed to be constructed near Baprola village over a plot of land measuring 125 acres. "We are hopeful of seeing the other two prisons in function by the next year," Gupta said.

PTI