In Delhi budget, CM Rekha Gupta proposes to relocate Tihar Jail, set up society for rehabilitating inmates

NEW DELHI: BJP govt has proposed the relocation of Tihar Jail in its first budget. The country's largest prison may now be shifted to the outskirts of the city.
In the budget speech, chief minister Rekha Gupta announced a new scheme to decongest the Tihar Jail complex, aiming the welfare of the prisoners. An outlay of Rs 10 crore has been proposed for the consultation and survey work under this scheme.
The renovation and alteration of the Lampur restriction and detention centre will also start on April 1. An outlay of Rs 20 crore has been proposed for it, the CM added.
Gupta also said a society would be set up for the reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners by developing their overall skills through various skill-imparting programmes and it would professionalise the functioning of various factories and manufacturing units of the jails.
"The products manufactured in the jail complexes of Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli will be given preference in procurement by offices and departments working under Delhi govt," she said.
In 1958, a central jail was commissioned at Tihar with a sanctioned capacity of 1,273 prisoners. Tihar has nine jails and houses 13,000 inmates in a space meant for 5,200. The residents of Janakpuri have also been facing a persistent problem with weak and drifting mobile signals due to the the network jammers installed by the jail authorities to prevent inmates' communication with the outside world.
Mandoli Jail also currently houses over 3,900 inmates against a capacity of 3,776 while Rohini Jail's capacity of 1,050 has been stretched to accommodate over 2,000 inmates.
A prison expert said the proposal would be a good initiative, but would come with numerous challenges. "Firstly, they need to find a suitable land. Currently, Tihar is situated on 200 acres in west Delhi's Hari Nagar. But due to the growing population, they may require up to 500 acres to accommodate the prisoners," the expert explained. "Additionally, a board will be formed consisting of senior govt officials. Building a new jail will also take several years," he added.
To decongest Tihar, some steps were taken in the past too. Last year, Public Works Department said it started work on Delhi's fourth high-security jail in Narela at an estimated cost of Rs 99 crore. The design will be like Cellular Jail on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and will be spread across 40 acres.
PWD said the consultancy firm would take around two years to come up with the final concept of this modern jail. The new prison also has a waterbody on one side of the wings. The jail authority also asked for space in Baprola for the construction of a new prison.