Maharashtra government plans to man jails using latest technology

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday assured the lower House that the state would improve vigil in jails across Maharashtra with the help of state-of-the-art technology. The government will also prepare a comprehensive plan to increase capacity of prisons, he said.

The CM was responding to a question raised by Congress legislators Patangrao Kadam, Vijay Vadettiwar and Amin Patel. The opposition MLAs wanted to know the government's preparedness in the wake of the escape of three dacoits from Tasgaon jail in Sangli district on Jun 1.

Fadnavis attributed the jailbreak to power failure and stormy weather which gave the trio an opportunity to climb up old wooden ceiling and flee. Kadam wanted to know if the CCTV system was dysfunctional at the time of escape. The CM told the House that the criminals were nabbed in Satara.

Responding to Kadam's claim that most jails were facing staff crunch, Fadnavis said that government preferred modern technology and gadgets to recruiting extra manpower. However, he assured that all vacant post would be filled up as soon as possible.