Bhopal: Unfed prisoners lose 5 kg weight

Jail authorities recommend revamping of menu; proposal pending with govt

BHOPAL : The jail department has failed to properly feed the prisoners who on an average have lost around 5 kg weight in last one year. After the SIMI jailbreak incident, the department had banned entry of outside eatables into the prisons. However, nothing has been done to make up for the shortfall and as a result the prisoners are not getting enough to eat.

Normally, the friends and relatives of jail inmates used to bring items like biscuits, namkeen, ghee, pickles, dry fruits, salt, sugar, chilli, salad items. The inmates used these eatables to spice up their tasteless meals and also to deal with hunger pangs.

However, since all outdoor snack and eatables have been stopped the inmates are left to depend on one fixed breakfast and two meals given to them daily. Presently there are around 38000 prisoners and under trials including women and children are in jails across the state.

On October 31, 2016, Eight SIMI men had escaped from Bhopal jail after killing a security guard. They had collected dry fruits, shoes, bags, blankets, bed sheets and others articles in their cells and these stuff were also recovered from their bags when they were gunned down.

The department’s move led to huge uproar and the authorities had to face stiff resistance from prisoners and their families. On December 23 last year, jail minister, principal secretary, DG jail and others deliberated upon the measures to be taken to sort out the issue.

Thereafter the department came up with a proposal of revamping the menu and inclusion of dietary supplements for the inmates. The proposal was forwarded to the government for approval, however, over a year has passed and the government is yet to respond.

Fixed breakfast, 2 meals for inmates

The prisoners get breakfast at 8 am, lunch between 10 am and 11 am and dinner at 5.30 pm. The quantity of meal is also decided. Breakfast includes dalia, while for lunch they are served 8 chapattis (weighting around 380 gm), vegetable (around 114 gm). Undertrials get 6 chapatti and the quantities of other items are same as served to others. However, if anyone wants to have rice, they have to trade it with chapattis.

Since the gap between the dinner and breakfast is around 14 hours, the inmates used to munch on snacks that they received from their relatives. With the ban on the entry of outdoor eatables, it is becoming difficult to deal with the hunger pang, which is also affecting their health. The dietary imbalance has led to loss of weight of the jail inmates. The prisoners in Gwalior and Bhopal jail have lost at least 5 kg weight in last one year period.

Jail authorities recommend revamping of menu

Since the outside eatables are being banned, the department has recommended change in the  menu. For the breakfast they have suggested serving biscuits, namkeen, poha, toast and bread.

For the lunch and dinner the authorities want to give salads to the inmates. Salad should constitute 60 gm of the 235 gm vegetable curry the inmates are being served. Instead of hydrogenated vegetable oil (dalda), use of refined oil has been recommended for preparing sweets and puris for weakly feast.

While the government is still to accept the proposal, the jail authorities have on their own cut down the curry quantity from 235 gms and started serving salads to inmates. Since the inmates are getting less vegetable curry they are forced to eat chapattis without it. Besides, now they do not have supplements like prickles or namkeen to spice up their meal. For the breakfast biscuits’ and namkeen are also given to the prisoners, however even their quantity is very less.

If government accepts the recommendation it will cost an extra burden of Rs 92 lakh on the exchequer. In the financial year 2015-2016, the department spent Rs 53 per persons/per day. However this figure has come down to Rs 43 in the year 2016-17. It is estimated that around Rs 10 crore are lying unused in department’s account.

Proposal pending with govt

DG Jail Sanjay Choudhary informed that the proposal is pending for approval with the government but they on their own have started serving better meals to the inmates. He also claimed that due to ban, the VIP treatment has stopped altogether inside jails and now all inmates are on same platform. The diet given to the inmates is decided by dietician and it is made sure that they get required calories.

Petition in court

Santosh Lodhe and Sumit Lodhe, the two jail inmates of Bhopal Central Jail, have moved Bhopal Court seeking more food for them. In a petition, the duo have stated that the quantity which they are getting in the jail is insufficient to fill their stomach. They besides increasing the meal quantity have also asked for pickles, chillies, ghee, namkeen and salad.