Chelur: New jail construction work to be started soon

Team Udayavani, Feb 11, 2019, 11:43 AM IST

Law and Order | Moving from city to the outskirts

Mangaluru: The work on the construction of a fully fledged jail within the limits of Ira-Chelur –Karnad village panchayat in Bantwal taluk near Mudipu will be starting soon and thus finally, the dream of relocating the jail within the city to its outskirts will be realized.

A compound wall has already been created by the PWD around the 67.87 acre land reserved in Chelur for the construction of the jail making secure the land. A week ago, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order-ADGP) N S Megharikh visited the location, conducted inspection and directed to start the construction soon.

Two years back, the then DGP (Prisons) H N Satyanarayana had announced during his visit to the district jail at Kodialbail on May 3^rd 2017, that a fully equipped, modern and model jail would be constructed in the city at the cost of Rs 200 crore. He had also informed that Rs 7.5 crore has been set aside for this in the 2017 state budget. Then, in the span of two years, a compound wall was constructed around the site to make sure the reserved land did not fall into someone else hands.

Approx. price may rise

The new jail plan has been created in accordance to the all India prisons guideline. The proposed prison will initially have an inmate capacity of 1,000. Eventually, there is an aim to extend the limit to 1,400 inmates.

For maximum security barbed wire and nails on door will be used. The prison will also have a hospital, library, helipad, separate work area for inmates to work, enough staff will be appointed and the staff will be provided with accommodation and video conferencing facilities.

The prisons department has calculated that the two years ago estimate of Rs 200 crore may now increase to Rs 250 crore or 280 crore.

Capacity 210; existing inmates 362

The jail at Kodialbail is filled above capacity. The capacity of the jail is 210 inmates. However, currently there are 351 male, 7 female and 4 children (1 girl and 3 boys), altogether 362 under trial inmates at the prison. Of them, almost 50 inmates are at the old jail and the remaining are at the new jail. Two years back, the inmate numbers at the jail reached to 489 once. Besides, there are a few inmates who have been transferred to other jails for protection and security reasons.

Rs 110 crore work

The aim is to construct the prison building in 3 phases within a span of 3-4 years. The tender for the first phase of the work at the cost Rs 110 crore has been prepared and has been sent for administrative approval. The tender is expected to receive administrative approval soon.

Administrative approval

“Rs 110 crore tender for the construction of the prison building has already been prepared and sent to the government for administrative approval. Administrative approval is expected to be provided soon. As soon as the tender process is completed, the work will be started,” said Yashwant, PWD Executive Engineer

Due to the construction of the new jail

“ADGP N S Megharikh, recently inspected the site and blueprints of the proposed jail at Chelur near Mudipu. The funds have been released and he has directed to finish the tender process soon and start the construction work. It will be convenient if the jail is created as soon as possible,” said T R Suresh. Police Commissioner, Mangaluru

Special Report