Mumbai: Eleven acres of revenue land along the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road were officially handed over to the Central Jail Authority on Friday. The transfer took place in the presence of state revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Mumbai suburban guardian minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha.
New Jail to Ease Prison Overcrowding
“The construction of a new jail complex will ease pressure on existing prisons. Mumbai’s security and administrative management will benefit significantly from this move,” Bawankule said. The land, which was previously overrun with slums, was cleared of hutments in a single day in April last month. Nearly 1,200 huts were demolished after the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) used satellite technology to map slums in the area from 2000 onwards. Mumbai Suburban Collector S Katiyar confirmed that slums that had come up after 2011 on the site were removed.
CM’s Directive and Use of Technology
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio, had directed that the 11 acres be made available for jail construction. The ACS (Appeals & Security) Home Department accordingly wrote to the Mumbai suburban collector’s office requesting the land. The SRA was then tasked with identifying post-2011 slums, which it did using the Network for Encroachment Tracking and Reporting for Mumbai (NETRAM). This is the first plot to be cleared using this technology.
Background on Jail Plans
In 2017, the state government informed the Bombay High Court that it had earmarked 16 hectares in Mandale, Mankhurd, for a proposed jail to ease overcrowding in Arthur Road and Turbhe jails. The Arthur Road jail, with a capacity for 804 prisoners, currently houses around 1,814 inmates. Of the 60 prisons in Maharashtra, the government has constructed six new jails at Taloja, Sindhudurg, Jalna, Nandurbar, Washim and Gadchiroli since 2015.
Future Plans
In 2020, the Department of Prisons directed the Public Works Department to prepare a plan for a 25-storey prison with a capacity to accommodate 10,000 prisoners on a 5-acre plot in Mankhurd. The latest handover marks a significant step towards addressing the chronic overcrowding in Mumbai’s prisons.
