'Only 273 availed funds for poor prisoners in 2 yrs'

DESPITE repeated reminders following a revised guidelines for supporting poor prisoners lodged in jails, in the past two and half years since the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) the scheme for them, only 273 jail-mates received assistance under it with 20 of 36 states and Union Territories (UTs) failed to spend even a single penny on this count and benefitted none.

- MUKESH RANJAN @New Delhi

However, 107 prisoners received support in Maharashtra with the state government spending over ₹18.68 lakh. Madhya Pradesh followed with an expenditure of a little over ₹9.93 lakh benefitting 38 prisoners, and Uttrakhand with an expenditure of nearly ₹7.76 lakh benefitting 37 inmates, according to official government data.

The scheme was launched in 2023, providing cash bail of up to ₹40,000 and penalty payment of up to ₹25,000 for each undertrail prisoner to reduce overcrowding of prisons, officials in the MHA said.