Jail relocation set to be an uphill task

HYDERABAD: The grand plans of Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao to relocate the historic Chanchalguda jail and, in all probability, turn the 150-acre expanse into an education hub will cost the exchequer an estimated Rs 200 crore. Prison department officials feel the relocation of such a big prison will be a huge task in itself.
Prisons department sources said that the jail precincts was recently developed by constructing new buildings for a hospital, barracks and other requirements by utilizing over Rs 50 crore from the police modernisation funds.
“One of the main reasons why shifting the jail out of Chanchalguda is a tough task is that this is mainly a remand jail, where transporting remand prisoners from jail to various courts is taken up frequently. Shifting the jail will only increase the distance the inmates would have to travel. Besides, the number of visitors at ‘mulaqat’ could increase as more number of people in a group could go at the same time to meet a prisoner,'' a senior prison officer, requesting anonymity, said.
The prisons department is yet to formally receive any communication from the government about its plan to vacate the prisoners. But as word is going around on such a move that could be initiated soon by the TRS government, an informal estimation was made by officials which concluded that nearly Rs 200 crore would be required to develop a similar prison on 150 acres of land.
It might take at least two to three year to complete the task. As of now, Cherlapalli jail, which is another central jail in the city, cannot accommodate the prisoners from Chanchalguda since it is already filled to capacity. While space can be made in Cherlapalli to house the convicts of the Chanchalguda jail, the large number of remand prisoners cannot be accommodated. “Security aspect is also going to be an issue in relocating to a new location in the suburbs, since it houses several high-profile prisoners,” a prison officer said.
The TRS government wants to make Chanchalguda premises into an education hub by letting it out to private education institutes. The jail still has a heritage building constructed in 1876.