Mahaparivartan Scheme of Prisons Department Inmate loan initiative yields good results

Cherlapally: Mahaparivartan scheme of Telangana State Prisons Department has come as a boon for the prisoners. The loan scheme, which started in 2016, is the brain child of Director General of Prisons VK Singh. The scheme became a huge hit within a few years and till date, some 213 prisoners availed loans, and the total loan amount disbursed stands at Rs 54 lakh. One of most important aspects of the scheme is that the loans are free of interest.

The prisoners who are serving imprisonment for over three years are eligible to take the loan from the jail authority. It's difficult for the department to recover the loan amount from the prisoners who serve terms shorter than three years.

Raju and Santosh (names changed) are two such prisoners serving terms in the jail. One of them is marrying off his daughter and the other is admitting his daughter in school. Thanks to the welfare scheme, inmates do not have to worry about the well-being of their families. Raju says, "The loan is useful in so many ways and more importantly, it is interest free. It gives us an impetus to work even harder at the jail and clear the loan."

Inmates are involved in several jobs, including growing crops, making steel furniture, manufacturing of Phenyl, tailoring and other utility items.

Jail officials say the main objective of the initiative is to ensure that the normal life of the families of these prisoners is not getting affected by their imprisonment. Prisoners who intend to avail of the facility should submit an application to the jail superintendent, and it will be processed in no time and a loan up to Rs 50,000 will be provided.

The loan amount will be paid to the family members of the prisoners and the amounts are deducted on a monthly basis from the earnings. The loans are provided by the department from the prison development fund, where profits from various industrial activities of the department are deposited.

Interestingly, most prisoners take loans for their children's education and daughter's marriages. Based on the loan given to the inmates, a calculated amount is deducted every month from their salary in such a way that the loan amount would be fully cleared by the time their jail term ends, said officials.