Central Jail facing demolition for IMS, yet gets new infra works

Nagpur: Even as the 150-acre Nagpur Central Jail is soon slated to make way for an Inter-Modal Station (IMS) at Ajni, the state home department is approving infrastructure and developmental works there worth crores and meant to last next 50 years or more.
City MP and Union minister Nitin Gadkari had proposed Inter-Modal Station (IMS) on entire 150 acre land of Central Jail two years ago.Nagpur Metropolitan Region Development Authority (NMRDA) has also reserved 150 acres to shift the Central Jail to mouza Chincholi and Babulkheda in Kamptee tehsil.
The home department issued a notification on Thursday giving administrative approval to spend Rs1.20 crore for development of new hanging yard in the Central Jail. “Existing hanging yard is very old and in shambles. Additional general of prisons, Pune, has suggested the work. Accordingly, state’s public works department (PWD) prepared the proposal,” the notification stated.
Sources from Central Jail and PWD told TOI the existing hanging yard was constructed in the British era. The yard does not have the facility for post mortem and offices. The new yard has been proposed on the lines of the hanging yard at Pune’s Yerwada Jail.
The proposed work has raised a big question as the Central Jail us supposed to be acquired by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for IMS. On September 22, 2017, the then CM Devendra Fadnavis had announced plans to shift Central Jail out of city. In February 2019, Gadkari got approved Rs1,000 crore for IMS and performed bhoomipuja in March 2019.
Costing Rs2,277 crore, IMS will come up in sprawling 490 acre land, including 150 acre of Central Jail.
A NHAI official said, “We will require Central Jail for IMS phase-II. The project has been approved considering land available by shifting Central Jail. At present, we are concentrating on phase-I, which will come up on Central Railway land,” he said.
The new hanging yard costing Rs1.20 crore will have a life of 50 years or more.
Also, the Central Jail does not witness frequent hanging cases. Wankhede Brothers from Amravati were hanged here in 1984. After a gap of 31 years, 1993 Mumbai bomb blast convict Yakub Menon was hanged on July 30, 2015. Since then, no one has been hanged here.
The PWD has also started renovation and expansion of the kitchen in Central Jail for which funds were approved by District Planning Committee (DPC). A few months ago, the home department had given administrative approval for construction of eight new barracks, which is set to begin soon.
Central Jail SP Anup Kumar Kumare said approved works and some in the pipeline are necessary for Central Jail so government sanctioned funds. “We have no intimation from government about shifting of jail from here to new place as on date. Proposal of new hanging yard was submitted a year ago. We are proposing whatever works are necessary for the jail as a regular practice. It is up to the government to approve,” he said.
For the new jail, NMRDA had reserved 150 acre land in Metro Region, that does not need to be acquired as the entire land is owned by the state government. However, the government is yet to begin the process to shift the Central Jail even on paper, creating confusion and leading to wastage of public money.