Sagar: In a unique initiative over prisoner reforms, authorities at the District Central Jail in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar are imparting training to the inmates for making cow dung lamps serving a two-pronged objective-to provide livelihood to the inmates and protect the environment. The prisoners who have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment are becoming skilled at the Central Jail Sagar and are also earning money along with environment protection.
The prisoners of Central Jail have been given training in making cow dung lamps through a social organization Gayatri Parivar. After the training, the prisoners are working on making cow dung lamps, for which they are being paid wages by the Gayatri family. The move is aimed to keep the environment pure and perform small havan at home.
Lamps made of cow dung are prepared on a large scale by the Gayatri family. Till now the Gayatri family used to prepare lamps in rural areas. But due to fears that buffalo dung could also be mixed in the lamps being made from the village, the campaign was shifted to the prisoners of Sagar Central Jail where the inmates are trained on a large scale.
There is a big cowshed in the Central Jail, which has a large number of cows. In order to utilize the cow shed to its full potential, the Gayatri family proposed to the jail administration to make lamps from cow dung through the prisoners in lieu of giving wages to the prisoners along with training. After the proposal was accepted by the Central Jail, proper training was given to the prisoners by the Gayatri family.
The prisoners of Central Jail prepare up to 1500 thousand cow dung lamps every day and also earn money in the process. The Gayatri Pariwar is planning more training for the prisoners to make more puja material. Lakoti Murat Singh, a prisoner serving rigorous imprisonment in Sagar Central Jail, said, “It is here that we have learned to make lamps from cow dung. Jailer Saheb had told us that we have to make lamps from cow dung and we were also trained for this. At first there was some difficulty, then we were given molds and then we started making good lamps. We employ 13-14 people to make lamps and make 1200 to 1500 lamps in a day”.
Inderjeet Singh Rai of Gayatri Pariwar Sagar said that for the last 20 years, they have been organizing various programs for the welfare of prisoners. “Apart from providing yoga training to the prisoners, we have reached out to 100 prisoners, who do the work of writing mantras daily. We make lamps of cow dung for small havan”.
Central Jail Superintendent Dinesh Nargave said that Gayatri Parivar has been organizing religious and spiritual programs for a long time in Central Jail Sagar. “Cow dung lamps are prepared by Gayatri Parivar for environmental purification,” he said. He said that the prisoners of Sagar Central Jail were trained on making lamps from cow dung.
