6 years on, jail relocation project hangs fire

Tribune News Service
Ferozepur, November 16

Uncertainty looms over the project to relocate the Central Jail to the outskirts of the city. In February 2014, then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had announced the project, estimated to cost Rs 150 crore, but neither the funds arrived nor any decision was taken due to subsequent change of regime in the state.

Security risk

The Central Jail is presently located along the main artery of Ferozepur city due to which it has become vulnerable to security risks as several residential and commercial establishments have come up along the jail's outer periphery

The project continues to hang fire due to procedural wrangles and failure of the state government in allocating adequate funds for it.

A few years ago, the state government under the optimum utilisation of vacant government land scheme had transferred around 10.68 acres of jail land to PUDA to build residential and commercial places with a plan to utilise the entire jail land subsequently. However, since the project is hanging fire, the fund-starved PUDA has also kept its plan on hold.

Sources said the cash-strapped state government wanted to commercially exploit the prime chunk of the Central Jail land measuring over 60 acres in the heart of the town. Even a piece of land measuring around 44 acres had been identified near Khai Pheme Ke village on the Ferozepur-Fazilka road for the construction of a new jail regarding which a proposal had been approved by the government.

Talking to mediapersons here, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Minister for Jails, admitted that the Central Jail needed to be shifted to the outskirts since the present location of the jail was not appropriate in terms of safety and security.

"In fact, both jails in Ferozepur and Moga are smaller in size and need to be shifted at a better place. I have written to the Deputy Commissioners of these two districts to find an appropriate place for the shifting of the jails and construction of new and modern jails," he said.

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