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Freedom Filling Station
India’s first women-run retail petrol outlet was inaugurated in Chennai by S Reghupathy, Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Law, Courts and Prisons, on Thursday. The retail petrol outlet has been named ‘Freedom Filling Station’ and is located near the Special Prison for Women in Puzhal Central Jail, Chennai.
It will be entirely run and managed by the women convicts. Thirty female convicts will be employed in the petrol outlet and will receive Rs 6,000 as the monthly salary.
This is the sixth outlet that the women prisoners will manage. Five petrol outlets have been functioning under the same brand name, ‘Freedom Filling Station’. The Tamil Nadu Prison Department is operating these with Indian Oil Corporation.
Five more retail petrol outlets are going to be set up in the state as per the order sanctioned by the State government of Tamil Nadu on May 2, 2022.
Positive change in the lives of Female Convicts
According to the prison department, this initiative will help female convicts improve their social skills as they can interact with the outside world while working at the petrol outlet, help them behave well and also help them give a sense of responsibility. They will learn to adhere to the rules and regulations as this would be necessary to meet specific behavioural criteria to be eligible for the job.
The DGP of Prisons and Correctional Services, Amareash Pujari, reported that such an initiative would result in the women convicts gaining work experience alongside learning new skills so that it will be relatively more straightforward to find employment once they are released from the prisons. It will also enable them to earn and save money for their future use or help support their families with the money they earn. The confidence and morale of these female prisoners will boost.
Prison Bazaar
Before the concept of this newly inaugurated retail petrol outlet, the prison department had already been running another initiative for the convicts by the name ‘Prison Bazaar’. Under this initiative, the items that the prisoners craft are sold under the brand name ‘Freedom’ through the Prison Bazaar.
The items include raincoats, readymade garments, notebooks, handicrafts and shoes. The list also includes compost manure, vegetables cultivated by them and the bakery products made by them.
The Department of Prisons and Correctional Services has taken the initiative s to bring forth various schemes which will help reform and rehabilitate the prisoners.
