Vadodara Central Jail prisoners put up a stall in VNF Garba

Selling their handmade items to the people of the city

When we listen about jail and prisoners there is a sense of fear running in our minds and quite often we avoid them. However we forget that they are also the part of our society and it’s our responsibility to help them come back again to the place where they belong and start their life again. Such an initiative is taken by one of the garba organiser in Vadodara where they help them put up their stall and sell the items they prepare inside the jail.

The jail administration runs various programmes inside the premises for the benefit of the prisoners where they can earn and a percentage of their earning goes to the prison welfare fund. For the first time the prisoners of Vadodara central jail put up a stall in Vadoadra Navratri Festival (VNF) selling their handmade items to the people coming at the venue.

From mats, liquid soaps, soaps, Phenyl and 25 types of food items are on display inside the stall put up by the administration inside the venue. One cant differentiate the items as prepare by the prisoners as they are so neatly packed just like one can purchase them from a supermarket. The prisoners also wear hand gloves to maintain cleanliness and hygiene while selling the food items to the people.

“All the items are prepared by the prisoners range from mats, sanitary items like soap, liquids and 25 types of food items. The prisoners get remuneration for their work inside and 10% of the selling goes to Prison Welfare Fund. This is for the first time that the prisoners put up a stall at public place before the elite class of people to sell their products specially the food items,” said Harshad Mehta Superintendent Central Jail Vadodara.

The prisoners are also happy to put up a stall at the garba venue. “We are feeling happy to put up a stall inside a garba venue and the response is good on the very first day. We hope the selling will increase in coming days and we hope to serve the people with out hand made delicacies and products,” said Mahendra Mafat.