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Sylhet jail slips into ruin

IQBAL SIDDIQUEE, Sylhet
One of the oldest jails is on the brink of collapse and its renovation, long overdue.
The main buildings and boundary walls of the 85-year-old crammed jail are in a ramshackle condition.
Non-functioning of its drainage system has compounded the problem.
Besides, staff shortage ill affords the welfare of 2,000 to 2,500 prisoners of the 1,200-capacity jail.
Water leakage through the roof of the administrative building causes damage to valuable documents, jail sources said.
The jail hospital building had been declared 'abandoned' by the Public Works Department (PWD) two years ago and shifted into a tin-shed structure.
But except for a minor repair of the administrative building roof, nothing else was done.
Constructed in 1917, the Sylhet jail was one of the two central jails of the then Assam-Bengal. It was made into a district jail in 1947 and upgraded to central jail in 1997, three years after the creation of Sylhet division.
A plan was then taken to shift the jail to the outskirts of Sylhet city and 54 acres of land was acquired in Sadar upazila.
But the work was stalled a few months ago when a decision was taken to construct new buildings on the old premises, sources said.
A Tk 54 crore project has been
taken up, but its implementation remains elusive. An official of the jail, however, claimed that work on the project might begin soon.
The posts of the deputy inspector general (DIG) prison, deputy superintendent, deputy jailor, junior consultant and assistant surgeon of the hospital stand vacant since its upgradation into a central jail.
Presently, the DIG prison from Comilla supervises the jail along with the district jails in Moulvibazar, Habiganj and Sunamganj.
The 162-bed jail hospital is the country's only facility to treat tubercular prisoners.
Lack of staff, facility and medicine expose the prisoners to serious health hazards, jail sources said.