JHANG, May 3: Several office bearers of the Anjuman Kashtkaran and Kissan Board demanded on Friday the construction of a new lock-up at the Jhang tehsil offices.

The present building, they said, was 150 years old and worn out.

They have also invited the attention of human rights organizations and the judiciary, particularly, the district and sessions judge to the unhygienic conditions there.

The lock-up is used to detain defaulters of Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan loans, land revenue and other government dues.

The present lock-up was built by the British rulers, as a part of the fortress like tehsil building, which during the Raj was a part of Kotwali. The part of the building now used as tehsil offices was used then as an interrogation centre.

Decades of neglect have brought the building to the verge of collapse. The lock-up is a 15 feet x 12 feet black hole where, when the recovery drive is in full swing, sometimes 40 to 50 people are kept. A part of the space, partitioned by a sheet suspended from the roof, is used as a lavatory.

One of the detained men told Dawn conditions at the Jhang district jail were far better.