SHILLONG: The State Prisons department is still looking for a land to construct a Central jail in Shillong which would have decongested the existing district jail located at Jail road in the heart of the city.
An official from the prisons department informed that the proposal to construct the central jail is not making much progress since they could not find a plot of land yet and the efforts to find a suitable plot of land is continued.
The Urban Affairs Department had earlier refused to provide land to construct a central jail for Meghalaya at Mawdiangdiang citing unavailability of land there.
The official also informed that the congestion in the existing Shillong district jail would reduce after the district jail at Nongstoin is completed as many prisoners from Nongstoin are kept here in Shillong.
The completion of work in Nongstoin district jail would take around six months to one year time, the official said.
The state government had earmarked Rs 6.25 crore on December 20, 2003, for the construction of the Nongstoin district jail on a plot of 10.35 acres of land in Photkynthei and it was scheduled to be completed in five years’ time, but the work was delayed.
It was also informed that the at the end of August, there were around 360 prisoners in the Shillong District jail against its capacity is to accommodate only 170 inmates.
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