A retail store will be soon opened in Chandigarh to showcase products made at the Model Jail.
Punjab is dotted with many clusters of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that provide a livelihood to skilled and semi-skilled craftsmen. But there is a unique cluster that employs people who are undergoing a process of reformation for their deviant behaviour and simultaneously manufacturing useful products for the local market.
These are the inmates of the Model Jail at Chandigarh, who have created a niche for their furniture products, not only in the government sector but in the corporate sector too.
Assistant Inspector General (Prisons) N P S Randhawa told Business Standard that the jail’s furniture factory had done so well recently that the Administration of the Union Territory of Chandigarh has decided to provide it a six-bay showroom in a prime market of the city (in sector 22), where products made by the inmates of the jail will be showcased.
He expects that it will open in May, he added.
“We did a business of about Rs 1 crore last year owing to good demand from government institutions. Now we want to explore more vistas. Our presence in the retail market would help us to make a value-addition to the product categories and develop a better market exposure,” Randhawa said.
Sunil Kumar, the master carpenter at the jail for over 15 years, is happy that the jail administration has created the infrastructure for reaping better business opportunities.
“A skilled inmate earns Rs 40 a day for making furniture. This is over and above the training he gets in the art of furniture making. But more rewarding is the skill development that enables them to pursue a vocation even after they leave the jail,” said Kumar.
He recalled the names of more than a dozen men who started their own furniture-making ventures after completing their jail terms.
Randhawa said inmates had been provided with state-of-the-art devices in the jail factory to make furniture. “We have multi-purpose machines, lathe machines, horizontal saws and automated machines to get quality products. Over 100 inmates have learnt the knack of furniture-making and are working on these machines.”
He added that the jail has been participating in fairs and exhibitions organised by industrial bodies to market its products. “We provided flower pots to the Taj Chandigarh after showcasing our products in one of the exhibitions last year,” he said.
Randhawa is optimistic that the retail outlet to be opened next month will help the jail get more business, as its products are cost-effective.
The Model Jail currently has 600 prisoners against a capacity of 1,000 inmates.
