Delhi govt conducts meetings with different land owning agencies to seek land for new prisons | Latest News Delhi

New Delhi, The Delhi government’s plans to decongest Tihar Jail have been set in motion with the officials holding meetings with multiple land owning agencies to seek land for alternate facilities.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had in her budget speech announced a new scheme for development of the new jail complex by shifting the existing Tihar Jail complex to some other location.

“The Home department of the government has started holding meetings with the officials of land owning agencies like Land and Development Office, Revenue and DDA to seek land for opening of prisons. The officials will be visiting Tihar next week to see the existing facilities and how decongesting can be done,” said an official.

The official said that during their visit, they will see how existing facilities at Tihar can be decongested till new jail complexes come up.

Tihar, which is considered one of the largest prison complexes comprising nine central prisons, has more than double the capacity of inmates. According to official data, it has a capacity of 5,200 inmates but houses 12,945 residents.

The government has also begun the tendering process for constructing a new high-security prison in Narela. This prison’s architectural design will be inspired by the historic Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

“The Narela prison is also a part of Tihar’s decongestion. With the tender being floated, we are looking at having the prison ready in 21 months,” the official said.

“Around 250-300 high-risk inmates will be then shifted to Narela from Tihar,” he added.

The Centre has already allocated ₹100 crore for construction of this prison and the remaining ₹40 crore will be borne by the Delhi government.

Apart from the high-security prison, Narela will also have another jail for housing prisoners, but the plan for it is at a nascent stage. Apart from Narela, the government plans to have prison complexes at other locations and the meetings in this regard have begun.

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