Started six yrs ago, Goindwal jail to miss another deadline

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We have written to the government for release of funds. We will take care not to miss the deadline.

INDERJIT SINGH, executive engineer, public works department

TARN TARAN : Over six years after its foundation stone was laid in December 2013, the ₹194-crore Goindwal Central Jail being built on 84 acre for 3,000 inmates is yet to be completed. The reason, the state government has failed to release money to contractors claiming shortage of funds. The project with the original deadline of June 2015, rescheduled to December 2015, is set to miss its latest deadline of May 2020 as well with the state not releasing ₹40 crore for its completion.

The construction of the jail is critical to ensuring that the burden on high-security Amritsar jail, housing 4,000 inmates against its sanctioned capacity of 2,260, is reduced. The issue had come into sharp focus after three under-trials fled from the Amritsar jail on February 2.

At the time, police had claimed the overcrowded nature of the jail as one of reasons for the breach in security; some officials had even called it the ‘most challenging jail’.

In 2013, the state Public Works Department (PWD) hired Sunil Hi-tech Company for execution of the project. Till December 2015, the second deadline, the company managed to complete only 60% work of the jail’s construction. In February 2016, the company stopped work, claiming that state government had failed to release funds. Then, work remained suspended for three years. In May 2019, PWD hired a new company, ASC Builders to complete the project. Now, department officials claim 75% of the project has been completed.

“The new company has completed work worth ₹15 crore, but the government has released only ₹5 crore. In protest, the company did not work for two months in December and January. Now, work is on, but at a slow pace as the government is not releasing ₹40 crore. The deadline of May 2020 will be missed,” a PWD official claimed.

PWD executive engineer Inderjit Singh said, “We have written to the government for release of funds. We will take care not to miss the deadline.”

It will have an administrative block for the working of jail officials, 13 barracks for men prisoners and 2 for women inmates, a crèche for the children of inmates, a hospital for providing free treatment to the prisoners and a de-addiction centre for addicts.