Rehabilitation measures at Tiruchi Central Prison are poised for expansion with the jail authorities deciding to train a group of convicts in welding with assistance from the public sector giant Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL).
The Prison Department would soon forge a tie-up with BHEL, Tiruchi to implement the latest rehabilitation initiative for the benefit of the convicts serving lengthy terms.
This would be the first time that the prison authorities would be teaming up with a major public sector undertaking to train a select band of prisoners in a vocational trade activity.
The BHEL would be installing machines required for the training programme inside the sprawling Central Prison premises, accommodating 1,300 prisoners, to train the select group of inmates.
For its part, the Prison Department has installed an additional power transformer in the jail complex exclusively for conducting the welding training. The State government has provided Rs. 5 lakh for this purpose.
Technical personnel from the BHEL would bring along with them necessary paraphernalia required to impart the hands-on training to the convicts in different batches soon. A group of 60 convicts have been identified for the welding training programme which would be conducted for six months, prison authorities here said.
Prior to commencing the programme, the Prison Department and the BHEL would sign a memorandum of understanding soon. The training is expected to commence next month.
The welding training would be yet another rehabilitation initiative which would help the inmates in starting their own micro-level business unit once they were released from the jail, prison officials said.
The Tiruchi Central Prison accommodates 700 convicts – many of whom are engaged in various prison industrial units inside manufacturing a slew of products including file pads, blankets, oil soaps, readymade garments, sanitary napkins, and tunic coats.
The tunic coats are manufactured for the personnel of the Fire and Rescue Services Department. The file pads manufactured by the convicts were despatched to various State government offices across the State.
A group of prisoners were recently trained in the manufacture of compost preparation using organic wastes and certain mineral by the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited.
