GUWAHATI, Jan 3 - Severe manpower crunch has hit the jail administration in the State with as many as five prisons forced to function without any jail superintendent, while posts of jailors are lying vacant in two other prisons.
What is worse is that even the post of Deputy Inspector General, Range (Prisons) is lying vacant for quite some time.
The jails functioning without any superintendent are those located at Diphu, Mangaldai, Kokrajhar, Sadiya and Abhayapuri. Tezpur, Majuli and Karimganj jails are those functioning without any jailor.
Apart from the superintendents and jailors, posts of more than 30 assistant jailors are yet to be filled up. In addition to that, 27 posts of head warder too are lying vacant in different jails in the State.
Further, around 250 posts of warder and two posts of chief head warders are also lying unoccupied.
�At a time when jails are facing the problem of overcrowding, such acute shortage of manpower has been seriously hampering the jail security and overall administration,� the source opined.
�Not just that, most of the jails lack proper infrastructure and basic amenities for the inmates. Besides, there is a lot to be done in various aspects like medical,� the source pointed out.
The source further divulged that the project to install close circuit television cameras in jail premises to set accountability on the part of the jail authorities has also been swept under the carpet and no concrete development has taken place in this regard.
