Central jail officials demand more recruits from Randhawa

Ludhiana: Ludhiana Central Jail officials are miffed with jail minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa as he suspended three Nabah Jail officials after the murder of sacrilege accused Mohinder Pal Bittu by two convicts on Sunday. They said the instead of providing enough security personnel to curb such incidents, the minister is suspending them on the grounds of negligence.
A surprise check was conducted by the Ludhiana Central Jail after the incident and nothing objectionable was found from any of the inmates. According to the officials, Ludhiana jail has approximately 3,200 inmates and there are only 120 security personnel to keep a check on them, which makes their work very challenging.
In June 2018, the jail minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa had announced to deploy Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in six high security jails in state including Ludhiana central jail. The Ludhiana central jail was supposed to get 25 CISF personnel, but even after one year, the government has failed to provide more security personnel.
Importantly in 2018, a total of 19 cases of scuffles were reported in Ludhiana jail besides 29 cases under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 and recovery of 96 mobiles. In the first five months of 2019 as many as 15 cases of scuffles, 12 cases under NDPS Act and recovery of 104 mobiles was reported.
Recently three jail inmates Sunny Khullar, Shakti and Pritam were arrested for strangulating another inmate Livtar Singh, to death over fight for drugs.
The jail superintendent Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said, “We have a total of 120 security personnel. Each security personnel can work only for eight hours and we have to divide them in two shifts which means in day/night shift we have only 60 personnel to take care of 3,200 inmates. With only a few security personnel, it’s hard to keeping an eye on activities of the inmates.”
Another official of Ludhiana jail, requesting anonymity said, “The government has failed in providing the required number of security personnel in all jails of the state. There are no sufficient CCTV cameras installed in jails then how can local jail officials be expected to ensure surveillance and proper security?”