Inmates punished: SSGC disconnects gas supply to two jails over unpaid bills

Officials insist catering companies are responsible for paying the utility bills.

HYDERABAD: Over 2,000 prisoners across Central and Nara jails in Hyderabad were not served proper meals for the last three days because gas supply to the jails was cut. Central Jail and Nara Jail owe Rs27.4 million and Rs13.2 million respectively to the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC).

Prison officials say that they hire catering companies to use their kitchen facilities to prepare food for inmates. These contractors are paid Rs165 per day per prisoner. The Central Jail has nearly 1,750 prisoners while the Nara Jail has 400.

Besides preparing food for the prisoners and police officials, the contractor is also responsible for paying the prison’s utility bills, said DIG Prisons Aashiq Memon. However, he admitted that the government had not been paying the contractors for a while. The Central Jail paid Rs8 million to the SSGC from November 2011 to January 2012. Memon claimed that the SSGC had cut off gas supply to the jails without issuing any notice in advance.

“They [prison officials] are lying,” said SSGC’s Media Manager, Inyatullah Ismail, when asked about Memon’s claim. “Government departments, including hospitals, prisons, schools and hostels get preferential [treatment]. We have been serving them notices for the last 6 to 7 months.”

When asked about the impact of the gas load-shedding at the prison, Central Jail superintendent Qazi Nazeer Ahmed said, “We would have made some arrangement had the SSGC informed us in advance.” Contractors either burn wood to prepare meals inside the prisons, or purchase food from outside vendors. Ahmed said that this interim arrangement could not last for long and called upon SSGC to restore gas supply to the prisons.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2012.