Sudden transfers of prison staff raises eyebrows

Visakhapatnam : Within 24 hours after protesting against the prison officials, 37 head warders and warders from Central Prison, Visakhapatnam, have been transferred to other prisons in an unexpected manner.

For the past few days, the warders and head warders were raising objections that they were being in-sulted by the higher officials and made to strip in the garb of checking right in front of the prisoners.

Opposing the insult faced by the staff, their family members along with their children staged a protest right in front of the prison on Saturday night.

Raising slogans and expressing their ire that the higher officials are ill-treating the head of their families, they demanded the intervention of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan to resolve their problems and take necessary action against the jail officials.

However, the jail officials denied any ill-treatment was meted out to the warders and head warders and they maintained that the checking was part of the regular protocol.

Keeping the situation in view, home minister Vangalapudi Anitha called for a detailed report on the issue.

However, transfer orders have been issued on Saunday evening, to the shock and dismay of agitating staff. With a large number of staff transferred to various other jails, including Anantapur, Kadapa, Chittoor, Kurnool and Nandyal, that too overnight, it triggered a debate among various sections. The discussion is over whether the transfers are made for the benefit of jail staff or the higher officials.

With the overnight transfers, the protest of the family members of the staff is likely to take a new turn.