Delhi Prisons authorities have sought the permission of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to invite tenders for various materials meant for the inmates lodged in various jails. There are shortages of medicines, ambulances as the tenders could not be renewed owing to the three-month long Model Code of Conduct (MCC) that has been promulgated by the ECI across the country.
The permission sought by the Tihar authorities varies from serving afternoon tea to the prisoners, supply of essential medicines, hiring of five ambulances, laboratory tests recruiting four Senior Residents and five Junior Residents for all the nine jails of Tihar and Rohini, as the jail administration is forced to deal with multifarious problems pertaining to the shortage of these highly essential materials.
Sources said that Delhi Prisons authorities should have taken required measures to address these issues as they were aware that general elections were being held and MCC will be imposed across the country. They did nothing and waited for the previous tenders to expire. Now they are facing piquant problems since essential supplies have been hit badly.
According to the letters of request written by the prison authorities, they needed five patient transport ambulances on turnkey basis for Central Jail, Tihar and district jail at Rohini. They also need the permission to supply ‘afternoon tea’ to the jail inmates of Central Jail, District Jail, Rohini and the six judicial lockups of the six district courts of Delhi. Jail administration is facing shortage of medicines and drugs for the jail hospital and dispensaries. It is also faced with the supply of the ‘Dietary items’ required for the Central and Rohini Jail.
An official of the Chief Electoral Office, Delhi said that ECI has mandated that, “Tenders other than global tenders, that are already floated may be evaluated not finalised without the prior approval of the Commission, if they are not floated, they shall not be floated without the prior approval of the commission. The ECI is seized of the matter and permission will be granted subject to checks and balances. ECI does grant No Objection for procuring items of public welfare provided no impression is given or created that the same has been done with a view to influence the electorate in favour of any political party.
When asked about the shortage of essential supplies in the Central and Rohini jails, Sunil Gupta, the spokesperson for Delhi Prisons said, “This is our routine affair as tenders are renewed in the month of May-June. We approached ECI due to elections falling in the same time. There is no shortage of anything at the prisons. lemon has been mentioned since summers would be approaching and it would help the prisoners. We could serve them lime juice”.