The effort to rebuild flood-hit Kerala will get help from some unexpected quarters. The prisoners in the Nashik central jail will contribute over Rs 1.50 lakh for the flood relief effort from their wages. The money will be handed over to Nashik district collector B Radhakrishnan on Wednesday. Pallavi Kadam, senior jailor, at the prison said around 1,000 inmates, including both, men and women had contributed Rs 1,78,742 from their savings and daily wages. "These inmates had expressed a desire to pitch in for the flood relief effort. They voluntarily contributed the money for the corpus," added Kadam, who is charge of the jail's factory (workshop). The Nashik jail factory has nine departments, namely bakery, tailoring, chemicals, carpentry, idol making, leather work, washing and laundry, and fabrication. The around 400 convicts working in the factory are paid wages of Rs 44, Rs 55 and 61 depending on their level of expertise (unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled). Radhakrishnan said he would accept the cheque from the inmates on Wednesday in a symbolic gesture and district officials would assist jail staff in transferring the corpus to the Kerala government through RTGS. "In the last financial year, the Nashik central jail sold products worth Rs 6.18 crore, which was the highest in Maharashtra," said Rajkumar Sali, superintendent of the prison, adding that they were the first jail in Maharashtra where inmates had voluntarily contributed to the flood relief effort. The Nashik Central Jail houses 3,443 male inmates and 125 women, including both, convicts and undertrials. This is more than its capacity of 3,178 inmates in the male section and 60 for women. The correctional facility also has an open jail. Maharashtra has 54 prisons including nine central jails, 19 class-I district prisons, 23 class-II district prisons and three class-III district jails in addition to 172 sub-jails. This also includes 13 open prisons including two for women, one special prison at Ratnagiri, one women prison at Byculla, one open colony at Atpadi in Sangli, and one Borstal school at Nashik.

Stay updated with all the Mumbai Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.