Cheemeni Open Prison Bets on agrarian turnaround as food sales hit inflation snag
Cheemeni Open Prison is tackling inflation-driven food venture losses by securing a twenty-eight lakh rupee agricultural grant for modern equipment, boosting farming operations, and transferring inmates to sustain its expanding rural workforce.
Cheemeni Open Prison is tackling inflation-driven food venture losses by securing a twenty-eight lakh rupee agricultural grant for modern equipment, boosting farming operations, and transferring inmates to sustain its expanding rural workforce.
Cheemeni Open Prison is tackling inflation-driven food venture losses by securing a twenty-eight lakh rupee agricultural grant for modern equipment, boosting farming operations, and transferring inmates to sustain its expanding rural workforce.
Kasaragod: Squeezed by the soaring cost of raw material, the famed food venture at the Cheemeni Open Prison, once celebrated for its budget-friendly biryani and chapatis, is facing a severe crisis. To counter these headwinds, the prison is engineering an agricultural turnaround, backed by a ₹28 lakh government allocation to procure modern farming equipment.
For years, the prison’s food sales generated substantial revenue for the state exchequer. Today, relentless inflation has emerged as the prime villain. Even after raising the price of its popular biryani from ₹60 to ₹70, prison authorities admit that keeping the business afloat remains an uphill battle.
In contrast, the prison’s agricultural initiatives are thriving. Inmates have reaped bumper harvests of tapioca and plantain, while cultivation of cabbage and cauliflower has also kicked off. The persistent menace of wild boars, which previously ravaged farmlands, has been largely neutralized by erecting protective stone walls around the cultivated plots.
To take farming to a larger scale, the Agriculture Department has sanctioned ₹28 lakh to procure modern equipment, including tractors and power tillers. Adding to the momentum, the 308-acre campus has been spared of its usual water shortages this season.
Efforts are also underway to construct a perimetre wall around the entire property using inmate labor and stones readily available on site. The cost estimate for cement and other construction materials is currently awaiting approval from the Prison Department.
Meanwhile, the prison’s workforce saw a sharp drop after 30 life-term convicts were released simultaneously upon completing their 14-year sentences. This brought the inmate population down to 198, well below the prison’s capacity of 260. To sustain its expanding agricultural footprint, authorities have initiated inmate transfers from other overcrowded jails across Kerala; 28 prisoners have already arrived at Cheemeni, with another contingent from Thiruvananthapuram slated to arrive soon.