Warangal Central Prison records Rs 73cr business turnover

Warangal: Paving way for achieving financial self-sustenance, Warangal Central Prison (WCP) has recorded a turnover of Rs 73 crores during the financial year of 2017-18, through various business activities involving the inmates at the prison.

There are several factories, durries and weaving, cloth dyeing, warping, wooden furniture, steel furniture, tailoring, soap and phenyle making unit, where the prisoners work inside the prison. There are two petrol filling stations outside the prison premises in Warangal.

Petrol filling stations have recorded a turnover of Rs 70 crore, while the product manufacturing units have achieved a turnover of Rs 3 crore by March 31, 2018, the prison superintendent N Murali Babu informed The Hans India here on Tuesday.

Petrol filling stations run by the WCP do a brisk business as the consumers trust the purity of the petroleum products. The same is the case of other products manufactured at the prison. Products like durries, bed sheets and others worth 15 lakhs are sold at Nampally Exhibition in Hyderabad alone.

Nearly 30 life convicts are working at the two petrol stations, besides 15 released prisoners.The prisoners, based on their skills and interest, were trained by experts before they are engaged in the work. It has got multiple benefits. It helps inmates acquire livelihood skills and engage in productive work and they are paid salary for the work they do.

The figures indicate the kind of productivity the inmates are able to achieve. The wages the prisoners earned will help them build a new life after their release at the end of their imprisonment, he explained.

It is a way ahead towards the objective of achieving complete financial self-sustenance in maintaining the prisons in the State, as dreamt by the Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services, Vinoy Kumar Singh, Murali Babu averred.

It is planned to establish nearly 100 ‘My Nation’ (The brand name for prison products) stores in erstwhile Warangal district by December 31 this year. There are three such stores in Jangaon district, one at Mahabubabad, two in Warangal, one each at Kesamudram and Elakurthy, he further informed.

‘My Nation’ Ayurvedic Village Wellness Centre set up here is receiving good patronage from public by offering nearly 28 types of treatments. Above 15 out-patients and eight to ten in-patients are being treated daily, the prison superintendent said.

Acknowledging the fact that a 55-year-old patient Shainaz Begum of Warangal said, “I am suffering from knee pains for long and wanted to go Kerala for treatment. After I learnt about this centre, I came here and I am now able to walk freely. The cost of the treatment is also very less”.