Now, 'jail-made' footwear to hit market soon in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram: 'Jail-made' Hawai chappal will soon be available in your next-door shop or market in Kerala as a central prison here has started manufacturing the rubber slippers now.
After dishing out a variety of products, including delicious but cost-effective food items, and successfully venturing into organic farming and beauty parlor business to running a petrol pump, the inmates of the Poojappura Central Prison here are now making footwear.
As part of a series of welfare measures for the prisoners to bring them to the forefront of society, the Kerala Prisons and Correctional Services Department recently established a manual footwear manufacturing unit at the jail premises.
The jail authorities released photos of inmates, in their conventional attire, engaged in chappal making, and the colorful footwear they made.
"Each pair of slippers will be sold at Rs 80 and it will be marketed under the brand name-Freedom Walk," Superintendent of the prison and correction home Nirmalanandan Nair said.
Director-General of Prisons and Correctional services Rishi Raj Singh, DGP, on Saturday launched the sale of the slippers at a function in the jail premises adhering to COVID protocols.
Meanwhile, a prison statement here said the Poojappura central jail has now become a complete COVID-free zone.
With the coordinated efforts of Health and Jail Departments, the central prison has become free of the viral infection in one month.
"All the 42 inmates, who had remained COVID positive, have now turned negative for the disease. At present, there is no COVID positive patient at this jail," the superintendent said.
In the wake of the pandemic, various services provided by the jail had been stopped temporarily.
Now, welfare various services, including food unit, cafeteria, gents' beauty parlor, and the sale of organic vegetables, have been resumed now, he added.
Seeking to tap the hugely popular online food market, the state Prison Department had recently begun offering biriyani prepared by the inmates.
For this, they have tied up with Swiggy, the online food delivery player.
The Freedom Food Factory, an enterprise selling food, mainly chappathi and chicken curry combo, prepared by the inmates at prisons in the state, has been engaged in the business since 2011.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
