Monday, May 25, 2009

Bihar Jail sanitation work may be outsourced

PATNA: In a bid to improve cleanliness inside Bihar jails, the home (prisons) department is weighing options to outsource sanitation work
in all
the 54 jails of the state.

These jails have been divided into six circles, with district and sub-jails having been attached to one of the six Central jails of the state.

To begin with, tenders were floated for the jails falling under the Beur Central Jail, Patna circle. Apart from the Beur jail, the circle consists of the district jails of Phulwarisharif and Biharsharif and sub-jails of Patna City, Danapur, Barh, Hilsa and Masaurhi.

According to the tender terms, the interested parties would have to ensure healthy maintenance like cleaning of jail campus, wards, offices, and inner roads. The bidders would also have to undertake works pertaining to proper maintenance of toilets and drains, removal of debris and silt from the drains.

Work apart, the selected agency would also have to appoint a supervisory in-charge and the agency would be answerable to the jail administration in case of any problem and security lapses on their part.

These supervisors would keep tabs on the staff deputed by the selected agency, who would carry out the sanitation work. It would be ensured that the staff do not have any criminal antecedents. Moreover, only women can be assigned the said work as far as cleaning of women wards are concerned.

"Six agencies have evinced interest in taking up the job," said a senior home (prisons) department official, who refused to be named. He said that a committee of senior officials of the department would scrutinise the bids and would judge
the agencies on two main fronts — the quality of work being offered and the security of jails — before taking a final decision to award the work.

Citing reasons for outsourcing the sanitation work, the official said that the department had been paying a handsome amount to local urban bodies for undertaking these works but it still failed to get the desired results.

"We hope to improve hygiene inside jails by outsourcing the work, which, in turn, would improve the quality of life of inmates
in the state jails," he added.

Source : Times of India

0 comments: