Naini opens e-Mulaqat facility at Chanchalguda

​Hyderabad: Home Minister Naini Narsimha Reddy on Saturday inaugurated the e-Mulaqat facility at central prison, Chanchalguda. The prisons department has launched the facility as part of its initiatives to bring in reforms.

The facility will bring an end to the long wait by the kith and kin of the prison inmates. The new facility will enable the relatives and friends book a time slot for mulaqat online and meet the inmate at the allotted time without waiting outside the prison.

Currently, over 400 people visit Chanchalguda prison on an average every day except on Sundays. However, not all of them get an opportunity to meet inmates because there is no proper system to provide information to the visitors regarding if the inmates’ have used up their opportunity to be visited.

The e-mulaqat facility will enable relatives reserve their time slot online just like they do for movie shows or railway travel. The online system will also enable the authorities to maintain order and manage the crowd on the premises, Director General of Prisons, V K Singh said.

“A new lounge for visitors has been developed at the Chanchalguda prison exclusively for relatives of prisoners who come for mulaqat. The new facility, with a seating capacity of 100, is an air-conditioned hall and has LED television sets. An LED screen will display the visitors' token numbers,” the prisons chief said.

This facility has been introduced at Chanchalguda on a pilot basis. It will be expanded to all the prisons in a phased manner after analyzing the results at Chanchalguda, officials said.