DDA to help build new jail in Narela

The jail will accommodate prisoners from Outer Delhi, North Delhi and some parts of Rohini. Sources in the authority added that a few inmates from Tihar Jail will also be shifted to the new facility.

The Delhi Prisons Authority is planning to construct a new jail in Outer Delhi’s Narela this year with help from the Delhi Development Authority, jail officials said Sunday.

The jail will accommodate prisoners from Outer Delhi, North Delhi and some parts of Rohini. Sources in the authority added that a few inmates from Tihar Jail will also be shifted to the new facility.

DG (Prisons) Sandeep Goel said, “Construction of the new jail is at the planning stage. We are in talks with the government for land sanction and other formalities. Once land is sanctioned, we will plan the infrastructure of the premises.”

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There are three prisons in Delhi — Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli. While Tihar is one of the biggest prison complexes in Southeast Asia, it also faces issues of overcrowding. Goel said over 10,000 inmates are currently lodged in Tihar. Before the Covid lockdown, which saw undertrial prisoners and a few convicts getting an early bail, over 13,000 inmates were at the prison complex.

Over 3,500 prisoners are lodged in the Mandoli Jail complex, which is also said to ‘packed’. Meanwhile, Rohini Jail, which is a relatively smaller prison complex, houses over 1,100 inmates.

Sources said the new jail will be constructed on 40 acres of land, with over four cells likely to be built to house more than 2,000 inmates inside the complex. Senior DDA officials said the project is in the “planning stage”, adding that the area has been decided and construction will begin soon.