State mulling preservation of Alipore Central Correctional Home's century-old heritage

Kolkata: The minister of the department of Correctional Administration Ujjal Biswas said in the Assembly on Tuesday that state government has plans to preserve the heritage of the Alipore Central Correctional Home.

The 109-year-old Alipore Central Correctional Home closed down in February this year due to security purpose and all of its inmates were shifted to other correctional homes.

Out of 1,500 inmates of the correctional home, as many as 1,000 were already shifted to Baruipur prison, while the other 500 who are mainly under-trial prisoners, have been shifted to the correctional homes in their respective districts.

The minister told the House that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has formed a committee for preservation of the heritage of the age-old Alipore Central Correctional Home. CPI(M) MLA Sujan Chakraborty raised a question in the House, asking the minister what the plans of the government were regarding the preservation of the correctional home.

In reply to the question of Chakraborty, the minister clarified that the committee has been examining all the aspects relating to the heritage of the jail. The minister

also reminded the House that this is not the first time that a jail has

been shifted. Ambala Central Jail, where many freedom fighters were kept, had also been shifted, Biswas added.

It has been learnt that the committee constituted by the Chief Minister has already started a survey to examine how the heritage of the Alipore Central Correctional Home can be preserved and people can visit the place where many national leaders and freedom fighters were jailed.

It was the end of an era for the city's history when the correctional home was shifted, as stalwarts like Aurobindo Ghosh, his brother Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Sarat Chandra Bose, K Kamraj and Bidhan Chandra Roy had spent their days inside its walls during the Independence movement.

Freedom fighters including Kanailal Dutta, Satyendra Nath Bose, Charu Charan Bose, Birendra Nath Dutta Gupta and Gopi Mohan Saha were executed at the correctional home.

The height of the Alipore Central Correctional Home's walls was 6.5 metres, while those at the Baruipur jail are a metre higher. Where the Alipore Central Correctional Home could accommodate 1,800 convicts, the Baruipur jail has a capacity of accommodating 2,200.