Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday inaugurated a cowshed at the Colvale central jail, the state's biggest prison premises, while adding that the move was one of the measures to make the prison self-reliant.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Sawant also said that the milk produced at the cowshed would be used utilised within the prison campus, while cow dung would be processed to produce biogas, which would also be utilised within the prison.
"We wanted to set up a self-reliance reform centre in the prison, a Swayampurna Reform centre. We are starting a cowshed here and the milk required for the inmates will be supplied from here. There will be no need to get cylinders from the outside, the gober gas which is generated here will take care of that," the Chief Minister said.
Creating a 'Swayampurna' Goa is one of the objectives of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government headed by the Chief Minister, he said.
Sawant also said that he had visited the prison a few months ago, claiming that the campus was in shambles.
"I visited this jail four months ago and there was chaos here. The inhouse handicraft centre had shut down, the machinery had rusted. I was wondering why should we not use their (inmates) talent and strength," the Chief Minister said.
He further said that now inmates would be tasked with stitching school and hospital uniforms, while women inmates had already started making sanitary pads within the prison campuses.
The Colvale central jail in North Goa houses around 450 inmates on its campus.