Jail authorities want 400 acres to shift Tihar to Delhi outskirts. Here’s why

A copy of the April 24 letter, seen by The Indian Express, also referred to Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s Budget speech in March, where she spoke about shifting the jail.

The letter stated, “… Delhi Prisons is operating from three complexes of Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli, comprising 16 jails. These prisons have an overall capacity to lodge 10,026 inmates, whereas the present occupancy in these prisons is around 20,000.”

This, the letter said, “creates security issues and causes severe strain on essential amenities like water and sewerage facilities, garbage disposal, etc., which results in serious health hazards and adversely impacts other correctional/reformation and rehabilitation programmes running inside the jail.”

The letter also pointed out that despite a fourth prison, a high-security one at Narela, coming up, it will still not be able to address the problem.

“The upcoming project of constructing a high-security prison at Narela shall also not be able to address the problem of overcrowding, as the sanctioned capacity… at this jail is 256 inmates. Hence, the department is in dire need of additional land for constructing new jails having a capacity to accommodate at least 5,000-8,000 inmates,” it said.

The letter added, “It is submitted that in the Budget speech of the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Delhi, the proposal to decongest the existing Tihar Jail Complex, for the welfare of prisoners, has been taken up and a new scheme for development of a new Jail Complex by shifting the existing Tihar Jail Complex to some other location has been formulated.”

“Given the above, it is requested to identify and allot an additional 400 acres… for the development of a new Jail Complex to shift the existing Tihar Jail Complex…,” it added.

Located in West Delhi, Tihar is close to Tilak Nagar and Hari Nagar areas of the city.

A jail official stressed why the move is important. “It’s essential to move Tihar out of a residential locality,” he said. “Most of our jails are single-storeyed, while the residential societies around Tihar are high-rises. Anyone can climb up these buildings and see Tihar. Anything can be thrown inside. Also, the residents face problems with jammers in the jail disrupting signals around the area. Jails are meant to keep criminals at a distance from cities — not in the middle of them.”

On the current capacity of Tihar, the official had said jails 1 to 9 are designed to house approximately 5,000 inmates, but these accommodate over 12,000 prisoners at present.

“Jails 10 to 16 are designed to house approximately 3,700 inmates, but currently accommodate over 3,900 inmates. Jail Number 4 in Tihar and 12 in Mandoli Jail are known as ‘Mulaija Jail’, which means first-time offenders. We have a large number of inmates in these two jails,” said a source.

Proposal for two more jails

The jail administration has also mooted another proposal to decongest prisons — constructing two new jails, with a combined capacity of 2,000 inmates, alongside the upcoming Narela prison. In this regard, the jail administration will soon send a proposal to the government, a prison official said.

The decision comes as the first tranche of funds, approximately Rs 10 crore out of the allocated Rs 148.58 crore for the Narela project, was received by the Tihar administration for starting work. “The first tranche would be used on the architectural design of the Narela prison and for laying the base,” the official said.

Out of the total allocation, Rs 48.58 crore would be given by the Delhi government, while the remaining Rs 100 crore would come from the central government’s kitty.

The total land allotted for the Narela High security prison is 40 acres, out of which the 250-inmate capacity site would require approximately 18 acres to construct, a Tihar official said.

“The remaining area, around 22 acres, would be used to construct the two other prisons. The proposal is being drafted and will be sent soon. Since the plan is to construct it on already allocated land, extra allocation of area won’t be needed,” the official said.

The deadline for the completion of the Narela prison has been set at 21 months, over two phases. The first phase will be completed in 2025-2026, while the second will be in 2026-27, according to government documents.