Beur jail to become self-reliant on printing front

PATNA: It appears to be curtains for printers who used to supply different forms to the Beur Central Jail, Patna. The jail would soon become
self-reliant on the printing front and a screen printing unit has already been installed here as part of the state government move to introduce different vocational activities in Bihar jails.

At present, 41 of the Beur inmates, 24 men and 17 women, are undergoing a month long training to learn different aspects of screen printing.

The training programme is being carried out by a non-government organisation, whose services have been roped in by the jail administration. As the NGO's services have been roped in for a three-month period, two more batches of Beur inmates, consisting of about 40 inmates each, would be imparted training after completion of the training of the first batch.

"With over 100 trained hands from amongst the inmates themselves, we would start full-fledged printing unit after completion of the training which would help us in printing different forms used on a regular basis in day-to-day functioning of the jail," said a Beur jail official, who refused to be named.

Incidentally, the jail spends over Rs 30,000 every year in purchasing these forms from the market. The trained manpower would not only help the jail in cutting down this cost, as the jail administration would now only have to purchase inputs required for screen printing, rather it would also help inmates to learn a thing which can be a means of gainful employment once they are out of the jail after serving their respective terms.

"To ensure regular supply of trained manpower for running the screen printing units inside the jail, we have decided to use the trained inmates as master trainers for imparting training to the inmates who evince interest in learning the screen printing work," said the jail official.

He said that the way inmates have shown interest in learning the work, the jail administration was confident of not falling short of trained manpower in days to come.