State govt yet to release Rs 3 crore towards wages of prisoners at Belagavi’s Hindalga jail

BELAGAVI: The state government’s guarantee schemes seem to have come in the way of prisoners at the Hindalga jail here not receiving their wages for the past 10 months.

Families of over 200 prisoners at Hindalga jail, serving life sentences, have been affected due to non-payment of wages. The prisoners are allotted tasks like farming, cattle grazing and furniture making, earning Rs 524 per day, which comes up to about Rs 15,000 per monthly. The prisoners and their dependents are now facing hardship due to the delay in releasing of the wages.

The jail authorities provide work to the prisoners based on their skills, but state government owes Rs 3 crore to Hindalga jail prisoners alone in wages. Despite prison officials writing to the Finance department multiple times, the wages remain unpaid.