Visakhapatnam: With the city on its way to become the executive capital of Andhra Pradesh, officials of the prison department are chalking out plans to run the headquarters of the prison department from Vizag Central Prison temporarily.
Currently, the department is headquartered in Amaravati. The department of prisons in Andhra Pradesh is divided into two— coastal Andhra and Kadapa ranges. Each range is headed by deputy inspector general (DIG) of prisons.
While one of the headquarters is located at Rajahmundry in East Godavari district, the other is located in Kadapa in Rayalaseema.
Speaking to TOI, a senior official of the prison department said that if the capital is shifted from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam, the central prison located in Adavivaram area in Visakhapatnam will be the headquarters temporarily.
As per the preliminary plan, the office of the director general of prisons and correctional services will function from the guest house of the department, located near the central prison. It is being expected that at least 50 officers from Amaravati will be shifted to Visakhapatnam.
Meanwhile, once the city becomes the executive capital, the prison department is expected to be set up in Bheemili in the area where the unused Bheemili sub-jail now stands, the official informed.
Work is also on for a Borstal School at Kondavelagada village under Nellimarla mandal in Vizianagaram district. This will be the first Borstal School in Andhra Pradesh and is expected to house 100 inmates. The school is expected to be inaugurated in the coming months, informed Dr Indla Sreenivasa Rao, DIG of prisons, coastal Andhra range.
The state government has allotted over 25 acres land at Kondavelagada for setting up a Borstal School and a new district jail in Vizianagaram in 2017. The entire project will cost the exchequer around Rs 20 crore.
“The state government had planned to set up a prison either in Vijayawada or in Amaravati for it felt that the capital should have a prison. However, now the government seems to have dropped the proposal due to the three-capital theory,” said another senior official.