Odisha House panel takes note of defunct CCTVs in Jharpada jail

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Jan 31:

A 12-member team of Assembly Standing Committee-I, led by Ramesh Chandra Chaupatnaik today took note of the non-functioning of 66 CCTV cameras inside the Jharpada jail in the Odisha capital city.

House panel at Jharpada jailThe committee, with two other members—Bijay Mohanty, BJD MLA, Bhubaneswar Central and Congress MLA Prakash Behera— accompanied by ADG, Prison, Pradeep Kapoor, visited the jail in the morning to check the condition of prisoners, the quality of food served to them and proper functioning of electronic equipment like CCTV camera and mobile jammers.

Briefing newsmen after visiting the jail, Chaupatnaik said the facilities provided to the prisoners are up to the mark and the quality of the food served to the prisoners is good.

“We inspected the kitchen and watched the functioning of a new machine which can make 3000 chappatis at a time,” he said.

He also said that the committee found that out of 88 CCTV cameras installed in and around the jail premises, only 22 are working while the rest are not functioning properly.

“The committee would recommend the state government to install a high-powered machine for proper functioning of all CCTV cameras,” Chaupatnaik said.

Referring to the shifting of Jharpada jail to a suitable place on the outskirts of the city, he said the committee had recommended this to the state government and raised the issue in the State Assembly as the people living nearby the jail who feel insecure and are scared of anti-socials and hardcore criminals who are lodged in the jail.

“The state government has identified 30 acres of land near SOG Battalion in Chandaka area where the jail will be shifted. For this, a budget allocation of Rs 10 crore has been made by the government,” he added.

“People living nearby the jail face problem in communicating with their mobile phones as the mobile jammer, installed inside the jail, blocks the mobile phone services within a radius of 2 km”, said Bijay Mohanty.

Stating that around 10,000 families are facing this problem, Mohanty said the problem would be over after the shifting of the jail to the proposed location.

“We will have a discussion on the identified land at Chandaka for shifting of the jail with the Khordha collector this evening and hope to get a positive result in this regard, he added.

Also Read

Comments are closed.