Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today approved the revised plan and design for three new ultra-modern high security jails to be constructed at Amritsar, Bathinda and Muktsar at an estimated cost of Rs. 447 crore with in two years. Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s office said that Mr. Badal was presiding over a high level meeting of the Jails department here at his official residence late last evening. The Chief Minister was apprised in meeting that the construction plan for these Jails had been redesigned to include the facilities for inmates like Dispensary, Training Center, Canteen, Open air theater, Athletic Track and two separate Kitchens for Under trails’ and Convicts’ sections in each jail as per his instructions. According to new plan and specifications, the estimated cost for the Central Jail Amritsar over an area of 49 acres would be Rs. 159 crore and that of Central Jail Bathinda over 38 acres would be Rs. 180 crore, both the jails would have the capacity to accommodate 2000 prisoners in each, whereas the Muktsar Jail over an area of 25 acres would now be constructed at a cost of Rs. 98 crore to accommodate 1000 inmates.
In order to reduce the cost of construction to some extant, the Chief Minister also approved some changes in the pre-decided specifications like 26 feet high outer walls of the Jails now to be reduced up to the height of 18 feet that would save Rs. 6 crore aprox. Likewise Internal walls would also be reduced to 14 feet height instead of 16 feet besides, internal concrete roads now would be of 10 feet width instead of 14 feet, which would result in saving more than Rs. 3 crore.
The Chief Minister directed the Jails department to complete the entire consolidated tendering process by the end of June for all these jails to ensure the participation of big construction companies of international repute for quality work in a time bound manner. He further directed to include a strict clause in the tender and agreement documents in terms of heavy penalty against any subletting of the work by concerned company.
Mr. Badal also approved first phase plan of Rs. 2.50 crore to establish nine types of small Industrial units in various Jails of the state. Under this plan a Rs. 45 lac Power Loom units at Faridkot & Kapurthala Jails, Rs. 60 lac Hand Made Paper unit at Amritsar Jail, Rs. 25 lac Bakery at Ludhiana Jail, Rs. 20 lac Soap units at Patiala & Kapurthala Jails, Rs. 15 lac Hosiery unit at Ludhiana Jail, Rs. 15 lac Single-colour Sheet-fed Offset Printing Machine at Patiala Jail, Rs. 25 lac Carpentry units at Faridkot & Kapurthala Jails, Rs. 20 lac Gas Welding unit at four Central Jails and Rs. 25 lac Mustard Oil unit at Faridkot Jail would be established. Prominent amongst those who were present in the meeting included, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Jails Sant Balbir Singh Ghunas, Chief Secretary Mr. Rakesh Singh, Principal Secretary to CM Mr. SK Sandhu, Principal Secretary Home Mr. DS Bains, Special Principal Secretary to CM Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar, Secretary PWD Mr. PS Aujla, Secretary Jails Mrs. Raji P Srivastva, DGP Jails Mr. RP Meena, IG Jails Mr. Jagjit Singh and Chief Architect Mrs. Sapna.