State jails in a mess, inmates not being reformed: Randhawa
OTHER BILLS THAT WERE PASSED
CHANDIGARH:PUNJAB jails minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Wednesday acknowledged that the state’s prisons are not playing the role of ‘sudhar ghars’ (correction centres) to reform their inmates as they are faced with a lot of problems.
The minister said this while taking part in a discussion on ‘the Punjab Prisons Development Board Bill, 2020’ which was later passed by the House.
Randhawa also accepted that the food given in jails is substandard as yearly funds outlay to run them is ₹90 lakh. There are 24,000 inmates to look after in the state’s jails, of which 8,000 are convicts.
Replying to a question by Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains, Randhawa said the new bill will increase of jails in Punjab as it will revive the cottage industry that will help the prisons earn revenues as well as correct the hardened criminals by engaging them in constructive work.
The cottage industry in jails was shut during the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-bharartiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) government. Earlier, Bains said he remained in jail for many years and prisons function like fiefdoms.
“Senior functionaries like ministers are shown a rosy picture during their visit to the jails. Canteens charge exorbitantly, the food given is not nutritious
The Punjab Management and Transfer of Municipal Properties Bill, 2020: Local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra said the properties owned by urban local bodies which are not giving any dividend will be identified and sold to generate revenues. There are large number of such properties which could be disposed of to help development works in the state, he added. The Punjab Slum Dwellers and there are no medical facilities for the inmates. Many inmates get infected by serious diseases such as HIV during their stay in the jails,” he added.
Citing the example of the Ferozepur jail, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Sarabjit Kaur Manuke said 1,214 inmates are lodged in the prison against the capacity of 1,100 inmates.
“There is no provision in the jails to help criminals shun the path of crime. Ironically, they come out as even more hardened criminals,” she added.
The minister said the jail board will help make state’s prisons self-sufficient as the earnings would not be deposited in the government’s coffers and will kept at the disposal of jail administration.
Speaking on the Punjab Private Health Sciences Educational (Proprietary Rights) Bill,
2020): The new act will give propriety rights to the slum dwellers and provide them basic amenities
The Punjab Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill, 2020: The amendment will result in additional borrowings of ₹928 crore over and above 3% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) in the current financial year
Institutes (Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Fee and Making of Reservation) Amendment Bill, 2020, Bains asked for provisions in the act for refund of excess fee paid by the students.
Though medical education minister OP Soni was non-committal on the matter, he said the new act will bring uniformity in the fees charged by private medical colleges.
Bains said the Christian Medical College (CMC), Ludhiana, and Dayanand Medical College (DMC), Ludhiana, are charging ₹25 lakh and ₹24 lakh from MD students while Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)-RUN Guru Ram Das College is charging a whopping ₹49 lakh. “There is no use of the new act if the variation in fee structure is not rationalised,” suggested Bains.