Diwali gifts for Tihar inmates

Ram Parmar’s wife Sushma, who stays in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, would like to keep in touch with him more regularly than is possible now — once in three months.

Ram Parmar’s wife Sushma, who stays in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, would like to keep in touch with him more regularly than is possible now — once in three months.

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In the absence of her breadwinner Parmar, a robbery convict currently lodged in Tihar jail, Sushma has to scrounge for a loan to fund her trip to Delhi.

Soon, she’ll have a better, cheaper option: she can talk to her husband over the telephone at least once a week.

The Tihar jail administration will soon offer all inmates — undertrials or convicts — the opportunity to telephonically contact their relatives/friends/acquaintances at least once a week, jail spokesperson Sunil Gupta said. Till now, such a facility was only available to inmates of foreign origin, he added.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who visited the jail on Tuesday morning, launched the project. The facility, said Dikshit, would be provided “to inmates for better communication with their family”.

The inmates, once the project begins in a few weeks, would have to buy prepaid cards from jail staff to avail of the telephone service. “minimum price of a prepaid cards will be Rs 10,” Gupta added.

Dikshit also inaugurated the new visitor booths at sub-jail number two about which HT had earlier reported. The booths, modelled on a similar facility at a Singapore jail, provide a clear, airy and echo-free ambience to inmates and their visitors for meetings/conversation.

The older booths have grilled frames enclosing them, unlike the glass-fronted walls of the new ones. The new booths were set up at a cost of around Rs 30 lakh, according a jail official.

The CM also inaugurated the jail’s new vocational training institute that offers certificates (with no mention of Tihar jail), under the central Ministry of Labour’s National Council for Vocational Training, in 80 “employable skills” to inmates.

“Jails in Delhi have earned the distinction of becoming reform centres that provide opportunities of positive change to inmates,” she said.

The courses range from automotive repair, beauty culture to hospitality management.