Organic vegetable shop coming up

Organically grown vegetables raised within the sprawling Tiruchi Central Prison campus will soon go on sale to public with the Prisons Department planning to start an organic vegetable shop.

The proposed vegetable shop is poised to come up near the prison bazaar situated outside the jail entrance abutting the Tiruchi – Pudukottai national highway.

The shop would be managed and run wholly by a group of prisoners. Once commissioned, the proposed initiative would become another rehabilitation measure aimed at benefiting the inmates.

A host of vegetables using organic manure were being raised within the prison campus where a slew of products were being manufactured through the prison industrial units.

About 10 acres of land has been set aside for raising different types of vegetables. A few vegetables were being sold through the prison bazaar, jail authorities said.

The vegetables raised include brinjal, ladies finger, pumpkin, beetroot, tomato, greens and radish. Neem seeds and ‘pancha kavyam’ were being used as organic manure to raise vegetables, says an official.

The shop would come up adjacent to the existing prison bazaar to sell vegetables at reasonable prices, the official said adding that the profit accrued through sale would be distributed among the prisoners involved in this venture