Centralised monitoring of 30 UP jails soon

Lucknow, Feb 20 The Uttar Pradesh government will now monitor the CCTV footage of 30 jails on a round-the-clock basis.

CCTV cameras in these jails have been installed and upgraded to allow centralized monitoring.

This is an attempt to keep a watch on the activities of dreaded criminals and their henchmen lodged in jails across the state.

The development comes in the wake of a recent case related to SBSP MLA Abbas Ansari, who was found to be meeting his wife Nikhat Bano inside Chitrakoot jail on a regular basis and was allegedly issuing threats to witnesses of his case.

Following the incident, the MLA has been shifted to Kasganj district jail and his wife has been arrested.

Stern action is being taken against jail superintendents who are lax and allow incidents like that of Chitrakoot jail to happen, failing the government's efforts to curb prison crimes.

"There is a clear instruction from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that the jail officers and employees who face any kind of pressure or receive threats, must inform the headquarters about it immediately so that strict action can be taken," said an officer in the home department.

The government spokesman said that they have written to the prisons department to provide a list of the top 10 criminals lodged in all the jails.

Principal secretary, prisons, Rajesh Pratap Singh, said that the superintendents of all the jails in Uttar Pradesh have been instructed by the government to provide the list of the top ten criminals lodged in the jails to the headquarters.

He also said that efforts are being made to develop the skills of prisoners in order to make them financially self-reliant.

Along with this, a list of various products being made in the jails should also be sent to the headquarters.