For a group of convicts behind bars, it was a day of outing for a public cause to do their bit for the society. Clad in white shirts and trousers, 40 convicts of Tiruchi Central Prison on Sunday assiduously carried out the job of cleaning the Srirangam Government Hospital to make it a tidy and green campus.
During their nearly nine-hour long mission, the prisoners went about doing a mosaic of works as part of their cleaning drive monitored by a team of jail officials headed by the Superintendent of Prisons D. Palani.
Convicts with good conduct were handpicked for the assignment as it was being done in a public place. Amid escort, the convicts were brought from the central prison in the morning to the Srirangam Government Hospital campus to execute the mandated task.
Armed with necessary paraphernalia, the prisoners launched their operation at around 8.30 a.m. carrying out a host of works including levelling the uneven surfaces, removing patch of bushes and planting saplings of various species at different spots.
“This is the first time that convicts of Tiruchi prison were engaged in cleaning activity in a public building”, said Superintendent of Prisons, Tiruchi Palani.
They dug pits and applied vermi-compost and manure in them before planting saplings.
A total of 40 saplings were planted which included pomegranate, mango, guava and papaya. The saplings were raised by the prison inmates and the vermi-compost was manufactured by them.
The mission was taken up on instruction from the Additional Director General of Police, Prisons, J.K. Tripathy to clean the campus of public buildings, Mr. Palani said.
It was as a social service activity on the part of the prisoners to do their bit for the society, he said adding that the exercise was aimed at providing them a healthy diversion to bring about a positive change in their minds.
Mr. Palani said similar cleaning drive would be conducted by the convicts every Sunday henceforth at chosen public building campuses.