Construction of rural district jail moves at a snail‘s pace in Kozhikode

The construction of Keralam’s first rural district jail at Puthuppanam, proposed as a solution to the long-standing problems at the Vadakara Sub-Jail, is moving slowly, leaving the existing facility to cope with overcrowding and infrastructure constraints.

The Puthuppanam project had remained on paper for nearly a decade before gaining momentum earlier this year. Although 60 cents of land was transferred from the Irrigation department to the Home department and work on the compound wall was sanctioned, the new jail is still far from becoming operational.

The project was originally proposed as a replacement for the existing Vadakara Sub-Jail. It was later expanded into a rural district jail, requiring changes to the design and additional administrative clearances. These procedural delays contributed to the project remaining stalled for years.