Punjab Government has decided to spend Rs five crore for the modernisation of State’s Jail Department, including Rs 2.75 crore on the purchase of new vehicles, while remaining Rs 2.25 crore on ultra sophisticated weaponry.

Announcing this, the state’s Jail Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Tuesday said: “The aspect of security assumes paramount importance in today’s scenario and given the central vitality of the Jail Department in this regard, the State Government is undertaking, and would in future too initiate every measure aimed at the modernisation of jails throughout the state. Also, there is no dearth of funds to carry out the modernisation of jails.” Randhawa, chairing the meeting of the Jail Department’s top brass, also announced that Rs one crore would be spent on the face-lifting as well as the upgradation of infrastructure in the district jails.

At the same time, he also applauded the Police for carrying out jail reforms in the right earnestness.

Listing out other futuristic measures, Randhawa said that the Central Jails at Ludhiana and Patiala would get waiting rooms. “Security zones would come up inside the jails with monitoring from the headquarters so as to segregate the gangsters imprisoned there,” he said.

Randhawa highlighted that the gangsters would also be shifted at regular intervals from one jail to another in order to ensure that they do not form a nexus at one place. Calling the Jail Department one of the most important ones, the Minister exhorted the departmental staff to work with full dedication and consider probity as the article of faith.

“While on one hand, the promotions are being accelerated, on the other, the recruitment of 210 jail wardens and 57 matrons would be completed within a month,” he said.

Randhawa also batted for giving awards to the jail staff in order to boost their morale and was all support for providing necessary assistance to those inmates who wish to undertake studies.

Listing out measures benefitting the departmental employees, the Minister said that those employees completing 25 years of service would get immediate promotion to the next rank. “Those employees who have only one year of service left but are otherwise eligible in all respects would be promoted to the next rank,” he said.

The Minister also directed the officers of the department to identify land near Chappar Chiri in Mohali district where the Department’s headquarters would come up.

The state Principal Secretary (Jails) Kirpa Shankar Saroj assured that the pace of modernisation of the jails and other infrastructural needs of the department would not be allowed to be slackened.

Highlighting a vital aspect, the state Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Jails, Rohit Chaudhary said that the measure of increasing the number of CCTVs inside the jails is also under active consideration so as to increase surveillance.