Over 7000 face masks made by Kathua jail inmates have been supplied to district administration to meet the demand of protective gear for frontline Covid warriors, said the Kahtua jail authorities.
Jail Superintendent, Mushtaq Ahmed Malla, said the Kathua district jail administration under its ‘PARWAH’ (Prison Activities for Reformation Welfare and Health) initiative has undertaken several welfare measures to imbibe the spirit of care and belonging among the inmates as well as staff of the jail.
Initially, the superintendent said, the team used to make 30-40 masks per day, but now they are preparing 400 masks per day. The cost of each reusable mask is Rs 15 which is quite less than the available variants in the market, informed the superintendent.
“We have so far supplied 7000 masks to the district administration and are planning to put up a sale point outside the district jail to upscale the sale. The move will not only encourage inmates, but would also provide more wage earning opportunities for them” he added.
The superintendent informed that lack of resources including insufficient number of sewing machines and raw material for making masks, did not stop the staff and inmates from their resolve to contribute their bit in this time of crisis.
“The jail staff arranged sewing machines from their homes which show their spirit and enthusiasm for the cause,” Malla added.
“We wanted to make good quality masks which can be used multiple times and after consulting experts it was decided to make double layered masks made of polypropylene cloth. The polypropylene cloth was not readily available in Kathua and a special team was dispatched with special permission to get the cloth from Ludhiana, Punjab on an urgent basis” he added.
He said the masks are properly sanitized before packing and all the work right from cutting, sewing to packing is being done with proper precautions.
Listing other provisions envisaged under PARWAH programme, he said the education as well as vocational training is being imparted to inmates within jail premises through IGNOU centre where one inmate successfully passed MA tourism, 34 passed BBP, 1 passed certificate course whereas 13 inmates are currently pursuing BA, 2 PG Diploma and 4 certificate course.
The jail centre is also providing the Adult education (basic) through advance audio video platform with the help of Tata Consultancy, under which out of 27 inmates passed the 6 months course and 17 other inmates have enrolled for the same.
He added that as many as 29 inmates have so far passed the courses in computer basics, CBFL Urdu and CBFL Hindi whereas 55 inmates are enrolled to get computer education.