Mumbai: Vaccination at Arthur Road prison in Mumbai started on Tuesday after jail authorities repeatedly asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to inoculate inmates within the prison. In two days, 659 inmates between the age group of 30 and 44 years were vaccinated. 16 inmates above the age of 45 years were fully vaccinated, said prison sources.
On Tuesday 329 inmates were vaccinated, while on Wednesday around 330 inmates were vaccinated which included inmates in high security prison like Mohammed Rizwan Kaskar, son of Iqbal Kaskar and nephew of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, Uday Pathak of Pathak gang, Sheikh Umed-Ur-Rehman Ishrat Hussain a dreaded shooter of Chotta Rajan gang among others. "Arthur road jail has around 1400 in the age group of 30 to 44 years. After the vaccination of 659 inmates, more than 700 are yet to be vaccinated," said a prison official, requesting anonymity.
On June 1, after an independent vaccination centre was opened at Arthur Road jail a total of 411 inmates above the age of 45 years were vaccinated. However, the centre was closed, due to lack of vaccine supply. The Arthur Road Jail superintendent since then has been writing continuously to BMC to restart the vaccination drive for its inmates. The letter written by the jailor had stated that the prison has 2,500 inmates in the age group of 18 to 44 years, who were yet to receive their first dose.
47 prisons across Maharashtra that houses 33,405 inmates has vaccinated 10,712 inmates till Sunday.