Vadodara Danteshwar open jail will be a green garden of two thousand trees

As an experiment in changing the minds of prisoners and uplifting their lives, the state jail department has started Danteshwar Open Jail in a large space in Vadodara. The inmates who have a very good record and are skilled in hard working agriculture are not confined to prisons here but are engaged in farming and vegetable growing in an open environment.

The inmates have become cowherds after a Gir cowshed was started here and now they will become tree saviours as a green garden of 2,000 fruity and medicinal trees will be planted in the large premises of this open jail. They are doing this with the help of Sant Nirankari Mission and this exercise will give them the peace of mind.

Under this campaign the prisoners completed the planting of two thousand saplings today with the help of Nirankari Sansthan. Senior Jailor V.D. Baria and prison staff also joined in the work. The campaign gets continuos guidance from Jail Superintendent Baldev Singh Vaghela guidance and Open Jail Superintendent B.B. Jhala.

Mahesh Rathore, Prisoner Welfare Officer, Central Jail, said that saplings including mango, sapodilla, amla, pomegranate, custard apple, lemon and drumstick have been planted here. The cultivation of fruity trees will enhance the beauty of this farm with the presence of birds and butterflies. Nirankari sansthan will also contribute to the upbringing and preservation of trees.

Vadodara Central Jail has been a laboratory for prisoner welfare for decades. The tree planting campaign seems to have added a green chapter to it.