Petrol bunk manned by prisoners inaugurated in Coimbatore
Law minister S Regupathy inaugurated the city’s second petrol bunk manned by prisoners – Freedom Filling Station – on Bharathiyar Road at Gandhipuram on Sunday in the presence of housing and urban development minister S Muthusamy and director general of police (prisons and correctional services) Amaraesh Pujari.
A joint initiative of the Prisons and Correctional Services Department and the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), the city’s first Freedom Filling Station was set up on Dr Nanjappa Road in February 2019. Pointing out that the state had one of the best prisons departments in the country, Regupathy said the prisons should be a place for rehabilitation. “We are providing professional training for prisoners and each prisoner is earning ₹6,000 to ₹15,000 every month.
They are manufacturing various products, which are sold to the public at a minimum rate. Products made at the prisons are not adulterated. We have been focusing on the rehabilitation of prisoners.” According to the prison department, 20 convict prisoners at the city central prison have been deployed to man the new petrol bunk in two shifts. Each prisoner would be paid a monthly salary of ₹6,000.
The Freedom Filling Stations are functioning in Coimbatore, Puzhal, Vellore, Palayamkottai and Pudukkottai (Borstal School).
These facilities have sold fuel worth ₹847.31 crore as on March 31, 2023, generating a profit of ₹23.94 crore. Out of this, ₹2.37 crore has been spent on the salaries, a source said.
He said the Freedom Filling Station on Dr Nanjappa Road had clocked sales to the tune of ₹252.75 crore till March 31, generating a profit of ₹8.65 crore. “We have spent ₹69.10 lakh on salaries.”
Deputy inspector general of police (prisons) G Shanmuga Sundaram, superintendent of city central prison M Urmila, state head of IOCL V C Ashokan and senior central prison and IOCL officials participated in the inaugural event.
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