KATHMANDU: Six new buildings are going to be constructed within the precincts of the country’s largest and oldest prison, the Central Jail, in Kathmandu. The Central Jail was built in 1971BS. It is 105 years old.
Six new buildings are to be constructed to accommodate the inmates who are now kept in an old prison house.
Chief of the Central Prison, Laxmi Prasad Baskota said that the construction of three out of the six buildings was underway.
“Construction of three out of the six buildings planned to be completed in two years is underway. We are also preparing to construct the remaining three buildings within the deadline,” he said.
The buildings will be constructed at a cost of Rs 380 million. Each building will have four floors and would accommodate 3,000 inmates. Bikoi Kirateshwar JV has been awarded the contract for the construction of the buildings.
The old prison buildings at the Central Jail suffered damage due to the Gorkha Earthquake in 2015.
There are 3,308 inmates at the Central Jail at present. It has three prison houses, namely, the central, the Bhadra and the women prison. The central prison house has 1,972 prisoners, the Bhadra jail has 923 prisoners and the women prison house 402 inmates. There are also 11 minors.
Although the Central Prison can accommodate 1,450 inmates, more than two times this number of inmates is currently housed at present. This has created problems for the prison authorities managing them. Most of the inmates also fall ill due to the lack of space.
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