After the maiden venture of Punjab jails of taking jail cooked food to general masses, the Punjab govt jail Dept has now tied up with the Indian Oil Corporation giving new vistas to the inmates under which fuel stations will be operated on the land of jails. Minister for Jails Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa today signed this MoU at Punjab Jail Training School Patiala in presence of ADGP jails Mr Rohit Chaudhary. The jail minister Mr Randhawa said that as pilot project, Punjab's first fuel station on land of jail was being opened at Patiala Punjab Jail Training School that will be run by inmates having good character. Besides this Verka and Markfed products will be available for general public at these fuel stations and the income made from it will go to the welfare of inmates. After successful run at Patiala, similar fuel stations will be opened across the state.He added that MoU was also signed with Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law for running diploma courses in jail reforms. The jail minister also flagged off five new vehicles meant for the jails. He said that under stewardship of Captain Amarinder Singh, the Punjab Government has heralded in a revolution in jail reforms. This has been done to make jails a place of reform and rehabilitation it's inmates. He added that the center government should give jail reforms funds on lines of police reforms funds given to states. He added that to strengthen jails dept, 420 more appointments are being made and jail staff is also being promoted.
Replying to the media persons Mr Randhawa said that the issue of rift between members of SIT probing sacrilege issue, is being done unnecessarily by those who were involved in the episode. He said that except for Kartarpur Corridor, the center has not given any funds to Punjab for celebrations of 550th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Replying to another media query he said that the Punjab govt has badly damaged drug supply line in the state. He condemned demands from politicians that vends for opium be opened in state. During passing out parade of the Jail Training School he gave certificates to 246 wardens and matrons on completion of their courses of five months time period. Speaking at the occasion he said that the jail officials carried major responsibility of reforming criminals arrested and jailed know various cases and the same was being done diligently under ADGP jails Mr Rohit Chaudhary.Jail minister declared Rs 5 lacs grant for Halloween from his quota and declared that AC will be installed in the school's auditorium. Also the contingents of matrons and jail wardens will participate in Republic Day and Independence Day parades. He said that due to alertness of jail staff, drugs could be recovered from various jails. He also honored the best performing wardens and matrons by giving them ADGP discs. He also distributed scholarship cheques of HDFC Bank to the jail staff members whose children have performed well in academics. Passing out matrons and wardens presented cultural program.DIG Jail Lakhminder Singh Jakhar, AIG Manjit Singh Kalra, Principal Jail Training School Patiala Rakesh Sharma, General Manager Retail Sales Inidian Oils Amarendra Kumar, Registrar RGNUL Dr Naresh Kumar Vatts,HDFC Zonal Head Jatinder Gupta and other prominent personalities were present on the occasion.