Central Jail Nagaland to run fuel pump employing inmates

January 27, 2023 44 Views No Comment

• A first in the North East
• Prisoners rehab programme

Morung Express News
Dimapur | January 27

As part of a broader prisons rehabilitation programme, the Nagaland Prisons Department has tied up with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to run a fuel retail outlet at the Central Jail, Chümoukedima. The foundation stone for the fuel pump, located opposite the Central Jail, was laid on January 26 by the Nagaland DGP Rupin Sharma.

Stated to be a first in the north-east, the collaboration would see the employment of prison inmates at the fuel pump.
Sharma said that the objective of the project was two-fold— inmate rehabilitation and improving the condition of prisons.

Stigma accompanies prison terms and the associated challenge of getting a job. The intention is to employ serving as well as released inmates and rehabilitating them, he said. He maintained that it would be practically impossible to absorb all, but the Department would look to employ the inmates, who are disciplined and are ready to work. He added, “If this succeeds, we have government approval for starting another petrol pump under this initiative in the district jail, Dimapur.

I was told that the tendering (by the IOC) for the other petrol pump is also done.

The other objective is generating revenue for the upkeep of prisons and aiding prison rehabilitation programmes. With the Prisons Department facing fund paucity, he said that the idea is to use the proceeds from the fuel pump for improving prison conditions and paying for medical exigencies of inmates, besides paying for the wages of the imates employed. “Most of the times, our officers are spending from their pockets for medical treatment of inmates. I do not want them to spend from their pockets… Hopefully, some of the money that we will make from the petrol pump, besides going to the salary of the people employed, will be kept for prisons improvement.”

As estimated by the IOC, he informed that the petrol pump would generate profit of around Rs 4 lakh a month on average. “This is hopefully the beginning to improve the lives of the people associated with the jail ecosystem,” he added.

He further informed that two other rehabilitation projects are in the pipeline for setting up two confectionary/bakery units in the Central Jail and Mon District Jail through the NHIDCL and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.

According to Raja Muni Tamrakar, General Manager (Retail Sales), IndianOil AOD, the IOC has similar successful partnerships with Prisons Departments in other states. While stating that the fuel retail vending was the first such collaboration in the north-east, he said that the IOC has a welfare project called Parivartan – Prison to Pride that seeks to enable the reintegration of prison inmates into the society by funding for the education, sports and skill development of inmates.