THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Prison is the last place where people want to be,given a choice. However, the case was quite different on Wednesday. With all roads in the city leading to the Central Prison at Poojapura as people flocked on the prison premises. Prison or not, it is always hard for people to resist the temptation of anything attached with a tag of quality at a low price. It was the traditional Poorada Chantha organised by the prison authorities that attracted the people to the prison. A wide variety of vegetables, including tomato, bitter gourd, snake gourd, spinach, jack fruit and lady’s finger that are essential for laying a sumptuous Onasadya, and most importantly cultivated by the inmates of the prison were on sale at the Poorada Chantha. And, contrary to the expectations of the authorities, huge number of people thronged the prison to buy these fresh vegetables grown strictly using bio-fertilisers. The people behind the sale counters, including the the prison inmates and wardens, had a tough time managing the huge number of customers who turned up. Some customers, especially the staff of the Prisons Department itself, were seen complaining loudly, tired of shouting to get the attention of the ‘salesmen’ who were busy attending to multiple orders at a time. But the tired look was absent from the faces of those who were returning from the prison with bags full of vegetables. ‘’The fact that no chemical fertilisers were used in growing these vegetables was the reason why I am here to purchase the vegetables,’’ said Bindu, a primary school teacher at the Government Upper Primary School, Jagathy. All the other customers also seemed to echo the same opinion as well. Their products might have sold off like hot cakes, but the inmates and prison authorities seemed a tad upset at the end of the day. ‘’We recorded huge sales this year, compared to the previous years. But we could not completely meet the demands of the people as a few items were missing from the menu,’’ said G Chandrababu, the Deputy Jailor of Central Prison, who is also in charge of the vegetable farming there. Some vegetables like cucumber could not be kept on sale as they started cultivating it late, the Deputy Jailor said. Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) Alexander Jacob inaugurated the Poorada Chantha presided over by Superintendent of Prisons B Pradeep.
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