Punjab to depute BSF commandants as superintendents of three more jails soon

CHANDIGARH : With the experiment of deputing Border Security Force (BSF) commandantrank officials as superintendents of four central jails in the state yielding positive results, the Punjab prisons department is set to give charge of three more jails to the officials of the paramilitary force.

In July this year, four senior BSF officials were posted as superintendents in central jails of Ferozepur, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Faridkot.

A senior prison department official said, “Three BSF officials will be posted as superintendents in the coming days. We are in the process of identifying the prisons considering various factors.”

Jails minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said, “The experiment (of posting BSF officials) proved successful. Earlier also, we have posted police officials in prisons on deputation. But of late, many police officials have shown their reluctance to join the prison department as they face pulls and pressures while supervising the prisons.”

The biggest success of this experiment is that the staff of the prisons department have adapted well to the command of officials of the paramilitary force, the minister added.

“We have not compromised with the professional competence of our own officials. Where the BSF officials are posted as in-charge, our department officials are being posted as additional superintendents,” Randhawa said.

Additional director general of police (ADGP prisons) PK Sinha said the idea behind posting BSF officials as superintendents was mooted to bring more transparency in the prison system in the state. “With this experiment, we have tried to open our jail system which was considered closed. Punjab is the only state which has deputed BSF officials as superintendents,” the ADGP said.

The department’s earlier experiment of posting Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans to guard the prison cells where dreaded gangsters are lodged has been successful by and large with a view to keeping check on the activities of gangsters in the jails, an official said.

The state has nine central, 11 district and five sub-jails.