A demonstration of drones was held to inaugurate a four-day training camp for Yerwada prison officers. (Express Photo) In a bid to improve surveillance, 12 prisons across the state will be monitored by drones, officials said on Tuesday.
The prisons selected so far are located in Pune (Yerwada Central Jail), Kolhapur, Nashik, Sambhajinagar, Taloja, Thane, Amravati, Nagpur, Kalyan, and Chandrapur. Each prison is to have one drone on a trial basis.
Deputy Inspector General of Prisons Swati Sathe said, “The drones will ensure that we don’t miss anything. All unnecessary movements will be detected.”
“Drones will help immensely in reducing the manpower requirement. The problem we are facing currently is that there is a lot of work and less staff”, said Additional Director General of Police and Inspector General of Prisons and Correctional Services, Amitabh Gupta.
He also mentioned their goal of reducing the death count (recorded to be 120 last year) in prisons.
Referring to the new budget allocation, he said it will go a long way with 2,000 new staff members, mostly consisting of constables and help (required in prisons), approved.
A short demonstration of the drones was held to inaugurate day one of the four-day training camp where officers from the Yerwada prison will be taught how to control and pilot the drones.
Officials said the drone being used is completely indigenous, made by Enercomp solutions with Ace Brain for digital support.
The model provided is the ‘Kingfisher’ surveillance model, which can fly for 30-40 minutes on a single battery, provides live coverage and has night vision.