Following in the footsteps of its neighbouring Governments, Haryana Government has started providing telephone facility namely ‘Prison Inmate Calling System’ in Haryana jails.
After launching the facility at Ambala Central Jail, Haryana Director General of Jail, Yash Pal Singal said that telephone facility namely ‘Prison Inmate Calling System’ had been provided in all the 19 jails of the State through which the prisoners could now connect and talk with their family members and relatives.
He said, “This facility which has been launched today at Ambala Central Jail, would be extended to all the jails of Haryana in the first week of June.”He added that this telephone facility was already available in Delhi and Chandigarh jail. However, the facility in Delhi and Chandigarh is costlier than in Haryana.
Under this facility, the jail inmates could make local calls at the rate of Rs 1 and STD calls at the rate of Rs 1.25 per minute. An inmate could use this facility for 10 minutes in a week. The facility will have dual benefit of relaxing the jail inmates by talking to their near and dear ones over phone and decreasing the number of visitors coming to meet them in prison, he added.
He said that to avail this facility, the jail inmates would have to give two postpaid mobile numbers of their relatives to the Jail Superintendent. He said that after proper verification of these numbers, this facility would be provided to the jail inmates.
An amount of Rs 3.87 crore is being spent to modernise the visitors’ rooms in the jail. He said that on the pattern of police personnel, the serving jail wardens would also be given facility of risk allowance amounting to Rs 5,000 per month. An amount of about Rs 20 crore would be spent on this facility, he added.