Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday inaugurated the newly-constructed Central Jail in Keraniganj, on the outskirts of the capital, having better facilities for inmates.

She opened the jail activities by unveiling a plaque. A munajat was also offered seeking peace and prosperity of the country and its people.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid and Inspector General of Prisons Brig Gen Syed Iftekhar Uddin were, among others, present.

Later, she went into the administrative building of the Central Jail cutting a ribbon. She was informed about various salient features of the newly constructed jail.

The Prime Minister gave some instructions to the officials concerned for improving the services in the jail.

The new central jail was built on 194.41acres of land at a cost of Tk 406 crore, reports UNB.With the inauguration of the new jail, the decades-old Dhaka Central Jail will be removed from Nazimuddin Road in the capital to Keraniganj. The shifting will be completed within this month.

The Dhaka Central Jail now accommodates over 8,000 prisoners against its capacity of 2,600.

There will be two jails, one for males (Jail-1) and another for females (Jail-2) at the new prison. Besides, there will be a platform for execution, a hospital and residential units for prison staff.

The administrative department, logistics and important documents of the Dhaka jail will be the first taken to Keraniganj.

The female inmates of the jail will be shifted to Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur as the female jail unit in Keraniganj is under construction.

The seven units of the Jail-1 have capacity of accommodating 4,590 prisoners. There will be two six-storey buildings for the convicts. Each of them will accommodate 500 convicts. There will be separate buildings for risky inmates and prisoners with division facilities in Keraniganj.

A 200-bed hospital and a daycare centre have also been set up on the new jail premises.

The prison authorities received the land in Keraniganj from the Dhaka deputy commissioner’s office in May, 2004. They later handed it over to the Public Works Department for building the structures. The construction of the new jail began in 2008.

The project for constructing jails in Keraniganj on 194 acres of land was approved in the 2005-06 fiscal year.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) in October, 2014 approved the second revision of the project, titled ‘Construction of central jail for the under trial prisoners in Dhaka (Keraniganj)’ costing Tk 406.35 crore.

The present central jail in the city’s Lalbagh area will be turned into a modern place with schools, shopping malls, parks and landscaping after shifting all prisoners while there will be a museum to preserve the memory of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and four other national leaders.