PESHAWAR, Sept 13: The provincial government is finding it difficult to meet the construction cost of a new complex for the Central Prison at Jalozai, official sources said. The former provincial governor had ordered the construction of a new building for the Central Prison to ease crowding and accommodate more prisoners.

A plot of land measuring 1415 kanals and two marlas was transferred to the prison department in September 2003.

The building complex was to be completed in two phases.

In the first phase, a boundary wall was constructed at a cost of Rs53.2 million. The second phase, however, could not be started due to lack of funds, official sources said.

The government was unable to meet the total construction cost of Rs199.875 million.

Even before the new building came up portions of the old jail, including a section for women prisoners and living quarters for prison staff, were demolished. This has contributed to the problem of over-crowding in the women’s section.

The Inspector General of Prisons Azam Khan, who was appointed an official on special duty (OSD) on Tuesday, said that he had proposed to construct new barracks on the land available at the prison site but at a substantially lower cost.

“The existing site could be utilised in the best possible way, in the best interest of the prisoners, public and state with an expenditure of Rs63 million approximately,” Mr Khan said.

The IG prisons said few aspects had been ignored while planning to shift the Central Prison to the proposed site.

Jalozai camp is considered a haven for hardened criminals. “It is likely that prisoners in transit and from the courts and other jails might be targeted by their enemies and criminals could easily get away as there are many hideouts in that area,” he said.

The proposed site is some 32 kilometres away from the district courts in Peshawar. This would give rise to unnecessary delays in producing prisoners before the courts and transporting them daily to and from the courts would be a burden on the government’s exchequer.

Quoting from standard police rules, Mr Khan said that a jail should be adjacent to the Police Lines so as to give emergency cover to prisoners and prisons. Since the Jalozai site is a fair distance from the Police Lines, he said, “this could give rise to many potential threats to life and property”.