The Bihar government has provided multi-purpose smart cards to prisoners in jail so that they can buy things from canteen through cashless transaction among other use.
The service was launched in Beur central jail here on experimental basis by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar last week, Director General (Prisons) Anand Kishore said.
Nearly 2100 inmates of the jail had been provided with the cards, he said.
After monitoring its success in Beur, the scheme would be introduced in 55 other prisons of the state in another 4-5 months, Kishore said.
The card could be recharged through payment by relatives of the prisoner or by himself through earning as wage while working in jail.
"There is a bar on maximum cash in a card. For convicts the upper limit of cash is Rs 2000 per month, while for undertrial it is Rs 2500 a month," he said.
To avoid misuse of card by another prisoner, there was provision of biometric authentication, the DG said.
He said the smart card could also be used as a health card with details of health condition and medicine taken regularly, if any, by the holder. It also carried details of the family of the card holder.
Smart card would also provide information like court dates and status of pending case in the court, he said.
The card holder by inserting smart card in Information Kiosk could acquire details like court cases, remission and status of wages.
Kishore said the innovative idea was appreciated by senior officials of prison department of many states during a national meeting on jail in New Delhi on April 18 last.
